//./,  i3 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,     N.    J. 


Presented  by 


Division...Jh^..-r:^lJ  i—  •~^  — ^ 


Section. 


Jf-  M.  fudt 


STUDIES 


BOOK  OF  GENESIS 


BY 


H.  B.   PRATT 

SPANISH  TRANSLATOR  OF  SEYMOUR's  "EVENINGS  WITH  THE  ROMANISTS  "  ("nOCHKS 
CON  LOS  ROMANISTAS"),  AND  AUTHOR  OF  THE  "MODERN  VERSION"  OF  THE  BIBLE 
IN  SPANISH,  AND  ALSO  OF  "  ESTUDIOS  SOBRE  EL  LIBRO  DEL  GENESIS  "  AND  OF 
"  ESTUDIOS   SOBRE   EL    LIBRO    DEL   EXODO." 


TRANSLATED     FROM    THE     SPANISH 


"  God  sent  ?iof  his  Son  into  the  'world  to  condemn  the  7i<or/d,  but  to  save  the 
world''''  {Gr.,  "in  order  that  the  world  be  saved  through  him").    John  3  :  17. 


SOLD  BY  THE  AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY 

150  Nassau  Street 

BOSTON  NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 

1906 


Copyright,  1904,  by 
H.  B.  PRATT. 

All  rights  rf served. 


To      the      memory      of     my     sainted     wife 

Joanna  Frances  Gildersleeve 

companion  of  my  youth  and  partner  of 
my  years  of  missionary  service;  whose 
crippled  hands  aided  in,  the  preparation 
of  this  book,  both  in  its  Spanish  and  its 
English  forms,  and  whose  nnmurmuring 
and  cheerful  "patience  in  tribulation," 
through  years  of  protracted  and  intense  suf- 
fering and  of  often  disappointed  hopes,  has 
been  to  me  a  daily  lesson,  and  her  sere7ie 
trust  in  Ood  her  Saviour  a  daily  inspira- 
tion, I  dedicate  this  volume. 

H.  B.  P. 
Jan.  25,  190G. 


'THE  GLAD  TIDINGS  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD" 

(a  world-salvation). 


"We  have  seen  and  do  testify  that  the  Father  sent  the  Son  to  be 
THE  Saviour  op  the  World."     1  John  4:  14. 

' '  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself.  "  2  Cor.5 :  19. 

"The  bread  which  I  will  give  is  my  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the 
life  of  the  world."     John  6  :  51. 

"  Thy  Kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done ;  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth." 
Matt.  6  :  10. 

"When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  his  holy  angels 
with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upo7i  the  throtie  of  liis  glory,  .  .  .  a7id  then 
shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand:  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father,  inherit  (=  take  possession  of)  the  Kingdom  prepared  for  you 
(the  just)  FROM  the  foundation  of  the  world."     Matt.  25  :  31,  34. 

"Blessed  are  the  meek:  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth."  Matt 5 :5. 

"We  (Christians)  according  to   his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens 

AND  A  NEW  EARTH,  WHEREIN   DWELLETH    RIGHTEOUSNESS."      2  Pet.   3  :   13. 

"For  yet  a  little  while,  and  the  wicked  shall  not  be;  yea,  thou  shalt 
diligently  consider  his  place,  and  he  shall  not  be  (there — Alexander); 
but  the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth,  and  shall  delight  themselves 
in  the  abundance  of  peace."     Ps.  37  :  9,  10. 

"Why  should  it  be  esteemed  a  thing  incredible  with  you  that  God 
should  raise  the  dead  ?"  {Gr.,  raise  up  dead  men.)    Acts  26  :  8. 

"The  Scripture  preached  beforehand  the  Gospel  unto  Abraham,  say- 
ing: In  thee  shall  all  the  nations  (of  the  earth)  be  blessed."   Gal. 3:8. 

"  God  will  restore  the  world,  now  fallen,  into  perfection." — Calvin. 

"I  learn  by  inevitable  inference  from  one  of  the  most  distinct  articles 
of  my  creed,  that  as  certainly  as  the  dynasty  of  the  fish  was  predeter- 
mined in  the  scheme  of  Providence  to  be  succeeded  by  the  higher  dynasty 
of  the  reptile,  and  that  of  the  reptile  by  the  still  higher  dynasty  of  the 
mammal,  so  it  was  equally  predetermined  that  the  dynasty  of  responsi- 
ble, fallible  man  should  be  succeeded  by  the  dynasty  of  glorified, 
IMMORTAL  MAN."  "Instead  of  one,  we  see  many  footprints,  each  in  turn 
in  advance  of  the  print  behind  it,  and  on  a  higher  level  ;  and  founding  at 
once  on  an  acquaintance  with  the  past,  extended  throughout  all  the 
periods  of  the  geologists,  and  on  that  instinct  of  our  nature  whose  pecu- 
liar function  it  is  to  anticipate  at  least  one  creation  more,  we  must  regard 
the  expectation  of  "new  Heavens  and  a  new  Earth  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness,"  as  not  unphilosophic,  but,  on  the  contrary,  altogether 
rational  and  in  accord  with  experience." — Hugh  Miller,  Testimony  of 
the  Rocks,  pages  261  and  223. 


TRANSLATOR'S    PREFACE 

The  story  of  this  translation  is  quickly  told.  After  a  half 
century  of  acquaintance  with  the  Spanish  tongue  and  more 
than  fifty  years  of  daily  study  of  the  Bible  (during  which  time 
he  translated  the  Bible — "La  Version  Moderna" — from  the  orig- 
inal tongues  into  the  Spanish  language,  for  the  American 
Bible  Society),  the  author  proposed,  when  retired  from  active 
missionary  service,  to  continue  his  foreign  missionary  work 
in  the  preparation  of  Spanish  Commentaries  on  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. The  need  could  not  be  greater.  Nothing  of  the  kind  had 
ever  existed  in  the  Spanish  language  till  the  publication  of  his 
Estudios  sobre  el  Libra  del  Genesis,  in  Aug.  1902;  and  that  vol- 
ume stands  today,  together  with  his  Estudios  sobre  el  Libro  del 
Exodo,  just  issued  from  the  press,  as  the  only  commentaries 
on  any  part  of  the  Old  Testament,  for  use  among  the  60,000,000 
of  the  Spanish-speaking  world.  Roman  Catholic  commentaries 
are  only  found  in  Latin. 

Important  as  Scripture  Commentaries  are,  and  indispensable 
as  they  must  be  to  the  rapid  progress  of  the  gospel  in  Spanish- 
speaking  lands,  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  demand  for 
them  among  the  possible  50,000  Evangelical  communicants  (most 
of  them  very  poor)  found  in  Europe,  America,  North  Africa 
and  the  former  Insular  possessions  of  Spain,  including  ministers 
and  students  for  the  ministry,  is  not  sufficient  to  induce  any 
publishing  house  to  risk  money  in  a  work  like  mine;  so  that 
I  am  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  doing  all  the  work,  and  then 
raising  all  the  money  to  print  it. 

This  I  have  found  so  difficult  of  accomplishment,  in  the 
two  volumes  already  issued,  that  I  hJve  been  led  to  translate 
the  former  into  English,  at  the  suggestion  of  esteemed  friends, 
who  represent  that  a  volume  so  warmly  received  and  com- 
mended in  Spanish  would  be  worth  translating  into  English, 
and  that  the  larger  sales  to  be  hoped  for  in  this  form  would 
materially  increase  my  own  meager  resources  for  contribut- 
ing to  the  success  of  this,  the  most  needy  department  of  the 
work  of  Spanish  Evangelization. 

V 


Vi  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

This  fact  would  of  itself  be  an  insufficient,  and  perhaps  an 
unworthy  motive  for  asking  the  patronage  of  the  religious 
public,  were  it  not  that  the  book  is  believed  to  be  one  of  in- 
trinsic merit — as  the  reader  may  see  for  himself  by  reading 
the  commendations  appended  at  the  close  of  the  volume — and  as 
such,  deserving  of  translation;  since  there  is  nothing  of  just 
this  kind  in  our  religious  literature.  So  it  may  be  service- 
able to  the  cause  of  Bible  Christianity  at  home  as  well  as  abroad, 
it  being  thoroughly  Evangelical  and  wholly  unsectarian;  as  the 
hearty  commendations  of  my  brethren  of  all  the  different  com- 
munions sufficiently  attest. 

In  addition  to  these,  I  may  be  permitted  to  quote  the  fol- 
lowing from  a  private  letter  sent  me  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  G.  Fred- 
erick Wright,  of  Oberlin  College,  Ohio  (whom  I  have  never 
met,  and  on  whose  favorable  regard  I  have  no  claim  whatever), — 
a  scientist  of  world-wide  reputation,  and  second  to  none  in  his 
own  special  department,  "The  Harmony  of  Science  and  Re- 
ligion." Dr.  Wright  was  kind  enough  to  examine  part  of  my 
work,  and  he  writes  me:  "I  have  looked  over  your  Study  of 
the  Book  of  Genesis  with  great  interest.  It  is  one  of  the  best 
treatments  of  the  subject  that  I  have  ever  seen.  Your  critic 
who  said  that  your  statement  on  page  4  was  not  up  to  date 
did  not  know  what  he  was  talking  about.  Your  original  state- 
ment is  correct.  ...  I  hope  you  will  succeed  in  publish- 
ing your  work,  so  as  to  bring  your  interesting  and  able  dis- 
cussion of  this  subject  before  the  English-speaking  public." 

To  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  Daniel  S.  Gregory,  General  Secretary 
of  The  American  Bible  League,  and  Editor  of  The  BiUe  Student 
and  Teacher,  adds:  "It  gives  me  peculiar  pleasure  to  indorse 
what  my  friend  Dr.  Wright,  of  Oberlin,  has  said  of  your  Com- 
mentary on  Genesis.  It  is  not  only  sound  and  instructive,  but 
also  eminently  interesting;  an  immense  advance  on  the  works 
of  Professor  Marcus  Dods  and  others,  upon  which  the  Chris- 
tian public  are  now  obliged  to  depend.  The  American  Bible 
League,  of  which  I  am  General  Secretary,  is  waiting  for  just 
such  works  as  this,  and  ^  stands  ready  to  do  its  best  to  aid  in 
calling  the  attention  of  its  readers  to  them.  ...  It  meets 
the  needs  of  a  large  class  who  are  just  now  looking  about  for 
something  satisfactory  on  the  Books  of  Moses.  Your  connection 
with  those  Interested  in  the  work  among  the  Spanish-speak- 
ing peoples  ought  to  add  materially  to  the  popularity  of  the 
work.  The  effort  you  have  devoted  to  the  task  of  presenting 
the    comments    in    such    language   as    to    reach    the    minds    of 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  vil 

Spanish-Americans  should  also  make  the  work  much  clearer  to 
all  ordinary  readers." 

The  reader  will  find  these  Studies  on  the  Book  of  Genesis 
different  in  many  respects  from  all  commentaries  of  our  owli, 
being  designed  for  use  in  Roman  Catholic  countries,  where 
nine-tenths  of  the  people  never  saw  a  Bible,  or  ever  heard  it 
read  in  church  or  out  of  it,  and  who  therefore  need  instruction 
over  the  whole  field  of  Scripture  teaching:  but  this  very  cir- 
cumstance is  calculated  to  lend  it  additional  interest  to  the 
general  reader,  and  at  the  same  time  render  the  scope,  purpose 
and  purport  of  the  .divine  revelation  much  clearer  to  his  own 
mind.  I  have  found  it -sometimes  convenient  to  omit  words  and 
sentences,  and  at  times  an  entire  paragraph,  which  are  of  little 
or  no  interest  to  the  English  reader;  and  sometimes,  for  his 
better  understanding  of  the  matter  in  hand,  I  have  added,  in 
like  manner,  to  the  Spanish  translation.  These  additions  usually, 
but  not  always,  are  indicated  by  brackets,  and  the  sign  "Tr." 
after  them. 

Of  the  views  of  Bible  truth  presented  in  these  Studies,  I  need 
say  but  little  here.  Besides  the  general  endorsement  of  my 
brethren  of  the  different  Evangelical  Churches,  contained  in 
the  commendations  published  at  the  end  of  the  book,  I  may 
be  permitted  to  say  that  the  author  is  a  strict  constructionist  of 
the  word  of  God,  viewed  as  a  supernatural  revelation  of  his 
will  for  our  salvation,  given  by  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
by  the  pens  of  inspired  men;  and  as  such  it  is  to  be  interpreted, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  same  Spirit,  according  to  the  laws 
of  a  sanctified  common  sense  and  a  believing  heart,  without 
regard  to  any  one  or  other  of  the  various  theories  of  inspira- 
tion which  men  have  devised  and  thought  out.  After  more 
than  fifty  years  of  daily  study  of  the  Bible,  and  after  trans- 
lating it  into  the  Spanish  tongue,  and  writing  commentaries  on 
the  two  first  Books  of  the  Old  Testament,  I  have  found  no 
occasion  to  change  or  even  modify  the  old  orthodox  belief  in 
the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  in  which  I  was  brought 
up  by  my  revered  parents,  who  knew  and  had  tested  their 
value  and  truth;  and  which  was  well-nigh  universally  held 
by  Evangelical  Christians  fifty  years  ago. 

As  regards  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  in  the 
original  tongues,  so  often  asserted,  and  with  every  variety  of 
expression,  in  the  Bible  itself,  I  do  not  think  that  any  other 
is  deserving  of  the  name  of  "inspiration";  though  I  do  not  by  any 
means  accept  all  the  inferences  drawn  therefrom  either  by  the 
friends  or  the  enemies  of  inspiration.    Whatever  its  adversaries 


viii  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

may  think  or  say,  inspired  speech  is  as  flexible  and  elastic  as 
uninspired;  as  seen  in  the  personal  utterances  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  arguments  arrayed  against  it  by  its  opponents  will,  I 
think,  find  their  simplest  and  most  effectual  refutation  by  test- 
ing them  on  Christ  himself.  One  and  all  they  will  be  found  to 
prove  as  much  against  the  plenary  inspiration  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  verbal  inspiration  of  his  personal  utterances,  as  they 
do  against  that  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets;  and  thus  they 
refute  themselves.  And  if  any  man  would  deny  the  verbal  in- 
spiration of  "God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  he  might  with  pro- 
priety write  his  name  "Unbeliever"  at  once,  and  wake  up  to 
a  better  understanding  of  Christ's  own  words:  "He  that  honoreth 
not  the  Son  honoreth  not  the  Father  that  sent  him."  John 
5:23.  To  deny  the  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration  of  the  teach- 
ings and  sayings  of  Jesus,  is  in  effect  to  deny  it  of  the  Father 
who  sent  him;  for  he  says:  "The  words  that  I  say  unto  you 
I  speak  not  from  myself,  but  the  Father  dwelling  in  me,  he  doeth 
his  works."  John  14:  10.  And  again:  "For  I  have  not  spoken 
from  myself;  but  the  Father  that  sent  me  he  gave  me  a  com- 
mandment what  I  should  say  and  what  I  should  speak."  John 
12:  49.  So  also  in  John  17:  8:  "And  the  words  that  thou  gavest 
me  I  have  given  them;  and  they  have  received  them."  And  if 
a  man  purposely  or  practically  denies  plenary  inspiration  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  it  is  a  matter  of  small  importance  what  he 
may  think  of  the  prophets  and  apostles. 

As  regards  t?ie  record,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  nothing  short 
of  a  perpetual  miracle  could  have  prevented  errors  of  trans- 
cription (especially  in  the  numbers  of  Scripture),  or  mistakes, 
and  even  well-meant  alterations  of  the  text,  on  the  part  of 
the  copyists,  during  the  long  ages  in  which  the  inspired  writ- 
ings were  preserved  and  propagated  by  the  pens  of  uninspired 
men; — the  wonder  is  that  they  are  so  few,  and  in  general  of 
BO  little  importance.  But  there  is  an  infinite  difference  be- 
tween this  admission,  to  which  the  author  repeatedly  calls  at- 
tention in  his  comments  whenever  the  occasion  presents  itself, 
and  the  allegation  that  they  are  in  great  part  the  errors,  mistakes 
or  mis-statements  of  the  original  writers. 

As  to  the  plan  of  these  Studies,  it  will  be  important  to  remark 
that  the  comment  is  not  on  words  and  phrases,  or  even  on 
verses,  but  on  paragraphs,  and  that  consequently  the  Bible  text 
enters  into  the  commentary  as  an  essential  part  of  it.  It  should 
therefore  always  be  read  before  the  comment,  unless  the  reader 
Is  already  perfectly  familiar  with  all  its  details. 

The  author  of  this  volume  does  not  pretend  to  make  an  exposi- 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  ix 

tion  of  the  Book  of  Genesis  as  it  was  understood  by  Moses  and 
the  prophets  in  the  ancient  time,  but  as  he  thinks  we  ought  to 
understand  it,  "upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come"; 
who  should  consequently  reflect  back  upon  it  the  light  of  a  com- 
pleted revelation  (since  God's  plan  has  been  unchangeably  one 
from  the  beginning),  and  who  possess  moreover  the  accumulated 
wisdom  and  experience  of  nineteen  centuries  of  grace.  The  book 
thus  may  become  an  important  contribution  to  our  Evidences  of 
Christianity,  and  will  prove  a  useful  addition  to  all  Sabbath 
School  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  libraries;  a  stimulating  and  awakening 
study  to  all  Bible  Classes;  a  Vademucum  to  large  numbers  of 
intelligent  artizans  and  other  working  men,  who,  realizing  the 
dangerous  tendencies  of  religious  skepticism,  are  feeling  after 
a  solid  ground  on  which  to  build  a  secure  and  satisfying  faith 
in  the  Bible  as  a  revelation  from  God;  a  partial  discovery  to 
American  Roman  Catholics  of  what  "Romanism  at  Home"  really 
is,  and  to  candid  and  thoughtful  Jews  a  valuable  "Introduction" 
to  the  study  of  New  Testament  Christianity. 

The  Scripture  text  employed  in  this  translation  is  that  of 
the  American  Standard  Edition  of  the  Revised  Bible,  copyright 
1901,  by  Messrs.  Thomas  Nelson  and  Sons,  and  is  used  by  their 
permission. 

With  these  prefatory  remarks  and  explanations,  I  commit  the 
volume,  in  its  English  dress  (fully  sensible  of  its  defects  as 
a  translation,  though  the  author's  own)  to  God,  and  to  the 
good  will  and  benevolent  regard  of  my  brethren  of  all  the 
Evangelical  Churches;  praying  only  that  it  may  be  as  indulgently 
received  in  the  latter  form  as  in  the  original,  and  that  it  may 
assist  some  of  his  people,  the  heirs  of  the  promised  redemp- 
tion, to  obtain  clearer  and  more  satisfactory  views  of  that 
"eternal  salvation,"  of  which  the  crucified  and  risen  Jestis  "has 
become  the  Author  unto  all  them  that  obey  him."    Heb.  5:  9. 

Hackensack,  N.  J.,  April  30,  1906. 


NOTES  ON  GENESIS. 


Page 

1.  On  Chaos 3 

2.  On  the  Days  of  Creation 6 

3.  On  Moses  and  the  Scientists 13 

4.  On  ' '  Living  Souls  " 15 

5.  On  the  Observance  of  the  Seventh  Day 23 

6.  On  the  Patriarchal  Traditions  and  the  Documents  of  wliich 

Moses   may  have   availed   himself  in  the  composition  of 
this  Book 26 

7.  On  the  Covenant  made  with  Adam 33 

8.  On  Death 41 

9.  On  the  Character  and  Destiny  of  Our  First  Parents,  Adam 

and  Eve 49 

10.  On  the  Deatli  of  Abel 57 

Translator's  Note  1.— On  Old  Testament  Eschatology 59 

11.  On  the  Wife  of  Cain , 63 

12.  On  Biblical  Chronology 72 

13.  On  the  Longevity  of  the  Antediluvian  Patriarchs 77 

14.  On  the  Antediluvian  Civilization 80 

15.  On  the  Time  which  Noah  Occupied  in  Building  his  Ark 89 

16.  On  the  Bible  Testimony  with  reference  to  the  Universality  of 

the  Deluge 100 

17.  On  the  Flood  in  General 108 

18.  On  the  Miraculous  Character  of  the  Deluge  and  of  Creation  . .   Ill 

19.  On  the  Essential  Unity  of  all  the  Different  Races  of  Men 131 

20.  On  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan,  the  Vale  of  Siddim  and  the  Cit- 

ies of  the  Plain 156 

21.  On  the  Servitude  and  Oppression  of  the  People  of  Israel  in 

Egypt,  and  on  the  Time  of  their  Sojourn  there 179 

Translator's  Note  2.— On  Exodus  12 :  40 183 

22.  On  the  Angel  of  Jehovah 187 

Remarks  on  Baptismal  Regeneration 198  to  201 

23.  On  The  Elder 274 

24.  On  Marriage 288 

25.  On  the  Sins  of  Old  Testament  Saints 330 

26.  On  Jacob's  Vow 347 

Tra7islator's  Note  3.— On  the  Tithe 349 

27.  On  "Sheol"  or  "Hades" 430 

38.     On  the  Use  of  Wine  in  Egypt 453 


STUDIES  ON  THE  BOOK  OF  GENESIS. 


EMBRACING  A  PEBIOD  OF  2369  TEARS;  FROM  4004  TO  1635  B.  C.  (AC- 
CORDING TO  THE  COMMON  CHRONOLOGY),  RECKONING  FROM  THE 
CREATION  OF  MAN.  ACCORDING  TO  THE  LXX,  FROM  5503  (HALES, 
5411)    B.   C,  TO  THE  SAME  DATE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

VB.    I.       CREATION    AND    ITS    AUTHOR. 

In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 

This  sublime  announcement  teaches  us  that  the  universe  was 
not  ab  eterno,  but  a  creation,  whose  author  is  God — the  God 
of  the  Bible,  Jehovah:  "In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens 
and  the  earth."  It  is  understood,  of  course,  that  this  was  orig- 
inally a  creation  out  of  nothing,  as  is  taught  us  in  Heb.  11:  3: 
"The  things  that  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things  which  do 
appear";  but  it  is  not  true,  as  is  frequently  asserted,  that  the 
word  create  of  itself  signifies  to  make  out  of  nothing;  although 
the  Hebrew  verb  hara,  in  Kal  (which  is  here  employed),  is 
used  exclusively  of  the  works  of  God,  as  distinguished  from 
those  of  men.  In  verses  21  and  27  of  this  very  chapter,  the 
same  word  is  used  in  regard  to  the  creation  of  animals  and  of 
man,  who  were  not  made  out  of  nothing. 

The  epoch  of  the  creation  was  "the  beginning."  It  is  an  error, 
which  we  often  hear  repeated,  to  affirm  that  according  to  the 
Bible,  this  world  of  ours  is  about  6,000  years  old.  According 
to  the  common  chronology,  such  was  the  epoch  of  the  creation 
of  the  first  man;  but  it  is  the  emphatic  declaration  of  Holy 
Scripture  that  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth  (which 
in  this  place  means,  of  course,  the  making  out  of  nothing  th-9 
material  of  which  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  subsequently 
formed)  "in  the  beginning."  The  epoch  indicated  by  Moses 
Tjears  a  notable  resemblance  to,  or,  better  said,  a  complete  cor- 
1 


2  GENESIS 

respondence  with  that  indicated  by  John  in  his  Gospel,  as  the 
remotest  point  of  time  to  which  it  is  possible  to  carry  back 
the  creative  work  of  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity:  "In  the 
beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and 
the  Word  was  God.  The  same  was  in  the  beginning  with  God, 
All  things  were  made  by  him,  and  without  him  was  not  any- 
thing made,  that  was  made."  John  1:  1 — 3.  This  undoubtedly 
means  to  say  that  yonder,  in  the  depths  of  eternity,  before 
time  began,  the  Word  existed,  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity, 
with  God,  and  as  God;  and  that  he  was  the  Agent  by  whose 
means  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth  and  all  that  in 
them  is.  as  is  plainly  asserted  in  Col.  1:  16,  17:  "For  by  him 
were  all  things  created  that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in 
earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones,  or  do- 
minions, or  principalities,  or  powers;  all  things  were  created 
by  him  and  for  him;  and  he  is  before  all  things,  and  by  him 
all  things  consist."  For  this  reason,  the  Biblical  phrases  "be- 
fore the  world  was,"  and  "before  the  foundation  of  the  world," 
without  any  doubt  (for  nobody  disputes  it)  mean  to  say,  from 
eternity;  before  there  was  man  or  angel,  earth  or  heavens. 

According  to  Moses,  then,  the  earth,  that  is  to  say,  the  sub- 
stance of  the  earth,  is  of  very  ancient  date,  and  in  general  terms 
and  a  wide  sense  it  may  be  aflBrmed  that  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  have  one  and  the  same  date;  be  it  one  million  years  away, 
or  be  it  a  thousand  millions,  it  is  all  one.  In  the  beginning  of 
things,  when  God  began  the  work  of  creating,  "he  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth."  "The  beginning"  is  elegantly  de- 
termined in  Prov.  8:  22,  23,  where  the  divine  Wisdom,  who 
personifies  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity,  Author  and  Architect 
of  all  created  things,  says: 

"Jehovah   possessed   me  in   the  beginning  of  his  way, 

before  his  works  of  old, 

I  was  set  up  from  everlasting,  from  the  beginning, 

before  the  earth  was." 
Modern  science   is  hard   to  please  if  this  does  not  leave  It 
completely  satisfied  in  reference  to  the  time  necessary  for  the 
slowest    and    most    lengthened    transformations    through    which 
this  world  of  ours  has  passed. 

In  the  text,  vr.  1  forms  a  separate  paragraph;  and  accord- 
ing to  the  interpretation  of  the  best  accredited  expositors,  an 
abyss  of  unknown  duration  mediates  between  the  first  verse  and 
second;  during  which  absolutely  nothing  is  affirmed  here  with  re- 
gard to  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  1:  2—5     .  3 

1:  2 — 5.      THE  FIEST  DAY.      LIGHT. 

2  And  the  earth  was  waste  and  void :  and  darkness  was  upon 
the  face  of  the  deep;  and  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon*  the  face 
of  the  waters. 

3  And  God  said.  Let  there  be  light ;  and  there  was  light. 

4  And  God  saw  the  light,  that  it  was  good;  and  God  divided 
the  light  from  the  darkness. 

5  And  God  called  the  light  Day,  and  the  darkness  he  called 
Night.     And  there  was  evening  and  there  was  morning,  one  day. 

'Or,  was  brooding  upon. 

Fixing  our  attention  now  upon  the  earth  alone — for  the  text 
leaves  the  heavens  entirely  aside — the  book  of  Genesis  affirms 
that  at  the  beginning  of  this  epoch,  which  Moses  calls  "the 
first  day"  the  condition  of  the  earth  was  a  complete  chaos 
("without  form  and  void,"  or  "waste  and  empty"),  in  which 
the  constituents  of  air,  earth,  fire,  water,  and  all  the  elements 
and  potentialities,  chemical  and  mechanical,  which  they  contain, 
were  in  an  embryonic  condition,  mingled  in  unspeakable  confu- 
sion; which  with  admirable  propriety  is  called  the  "abyss" 
("the  deep"),  wrapped  in  impenetrable  darkness;  and  over  this 
formless,  watery  mass  the  Spirit  of  God  "brooded,"  as  a. 
bird  Sits  upon  its  eggs,  brooding  upon  them,  to  bring  forth  its 
young.  Thus  according  to  the  figurative  expression  of  the 
sacred  text,  the  Holy  Spirit,  third  person  of  the  Trinity,  and 
immediate  Author  of  life  in  all  its  forms,  fecundated  the 
chaotic  mass  of  the  earth,  in  order  to  produce  this  beautiful 
"earth,  which  God  has  given  to  the  children  of  men."  Ps. 
115:  16.  How  many  ages  this  process  of  incubation  may  have 
lasted,  let  science  say,  if  it  be  able;  for  the  Bible  affirms  noth- 
ing about  it,  one  way  or  the  other;  but  the  visible  result  was 
that  light  entered  slowly,  to  interrupt  the  eternal  reign  of 
darkness. 

[Note  1. — On  Chaos — the  original  condition  of  the  earth. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  the  greater  part  of  scientific  men,  that 
originally  the  earth,  with  all  the  planets  that  revolve  around 
our  sun,  were  a  part  of  it;  at  a  time,  almost  infinitely  remote 
("in  the  beginning,"  as  says  vr.  1),  when  this  existed  in  the 
form  of  an  extremely  subtile  matter  which  filled  all  the  com- 
pass of  the  planetary  spaces.  This,  according  as  it  went 
on  condensing  by  the  attraction  of  gravitation,  continued  to 
increase  in  temperature — the  indispensable  effect  of  the  com- 
pression of  matter — until  it  became  a  heated  and  luminous  but 
extremely  rarefied  body,  which  turned  then,  just  as  it  does 
now,  upon  its  own  axis.  The  effect  of  this  rapid,  gyratory 
movement  of  so   immense   and   so   light  a   mass,   was  that   the 


4  GENESIS 

different  planets  separated  themselves  successively  from  the 
mother  sun,  as  it  went  on  condensing  and  heating,  forming 
themselves  gyratory  heated  globes  of  the  same  material,  and 
of  much  greater  size  than  at  present.  These  bodies,  in  condensing 
more  and  more  were  first  converted  into  globes  of  fire,  and 
later,  on  losing  part  of  their  heat  (thrown  off  into  the  cold 
abysses  of  space),  there  formed  on  their  surfaces  a  solid  crust, 
which  inclosed  those  fires  under  enormous  pressure.  The  earthy 
crust  of  our  globe,  very  thin  at  first,  continued  to  thicken  more 
and  more;  and  this  being  an  admirable  non-conductor  of  heat, 
mitigated  more  and  more  the  ardors  of  those  internal  fires. 

Such  appears  to  have  been  the  condition  of  things  in  our 
earth  at  the  point  indicated  as  the  "first  day."  Owing  to  the 
heat,  not  even  water  could  exist  in  its  present  form;  and  every- 
thing was  kept  in  ebullition  and  incessant  movement,  by  the 
action  of  the  internal  fires;  while  only  a  thin  crust  of  solid 
matter  separated  between  the  fires  within  and  "the  waters"  of 
vr.  2  without. 

It  will  help  the  reader  to  understand  this,  if  he  will  bear 
in  mind  that  in  the  opinion  of  most  scientific  men,  the  earthy 
crust  of  this  our  globe  at  the  present  time  does  not  exceed 
forty  or  fifty  miles  in  thickness;  which,  in  virtue  of  its  ac- 
tion as  an  admirable  non-conductor,  reduces  the  heat  on  the 
surface  and  allows  the  existence  of  those  forms  of  matter 
that  we  know,  and  of  organic  life,  both  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal. The  planet  Jupiter,  the  largest  of  our  system,  has  at 
present  the  temperature  of  boiling  water;  and  although  much 
older  than  our  earth,  it  has  not  yet  arrived  at  such  a  reduced 
temperature  as  that  the  forms  of  vegetable  and  animal  life 
which  we  know  would  be  able  to  bear  it.  The  planet  Saturn, 
though  of  greater  age  than  Jupiter,  is  believed  to  be  still  in  a 
state  of  chaos. 

The  elevated  temperature  of  the  first  day  kept  "the  waters" 
of  vr.  2  in  such  a  state  of  ebullition  as  filled  the  dense  and 
watery  atmosphere  (if  such  it  may  be  called)  with  clouds 
so  formidable  and  of  such  thickness,  as  that  the  light  of  a 
thousand  suns  could  not  possibly  have  penetrated  them.  The 
gradual  reduction  of  these  heats,  the  condensation  Of  those 
aqueous  vapors,  and  the  gradual  purification  of  the  embryonic 
atmosphere,  at  last  would  give  this  result,  that  the  light  of 
the  sun  (the  source  of  light  then,  the  same  as  now,  to  the 
earth),  could  gradually  penetrate  and  illumine  that  scene  of 
universal  desolation.  The  work  of  the  first  day  was  this;  and 
the   mere   declaration    of  what  was   chaos,   will   be  sufficient  to 


CHAPTER  1:  2—5  5 

accredit  the  statement  that  the  entrance  of  light  was  very- 
slow,  and  the  first  day  very  long.  There  are  other  theories 
regarding  chaos  and  the  light  of  the  first  day,  but  this,  I 
believe,  is  the  most  generally  accepted,  and  the  most  com- 
prehensible. I  do  not  give  it  for  established  fact,  but  only 
to  clear  up  as  best  I  can  the  meaning  of  the  sacred  text.] 

''And  God  said:  Let  there  he  light,  and  there  was  light." 
Accustomed  as  we  are  from  childhood  to  believe  that  this  was 
done  in  less  time  than  it  takes  us  to  speak  the  words,  there  are 
many  who  find  it  very  difficult  to  accept  the  idea  that  the  work 
was  slow.    Poetically  the  Psalmist  has  said: 

"He  spake,  and  it  was  done; 

he  commanded,  and  it  stood  forth."     Ps.  33:  9; 
or  as  the  Modern  Spanish  Version  has  it  (the  italics  are  found  in 
the  text) : 

"He  said:     Be!  and  it  was; 

he  commanded  and  the  universe  stood  forth." 
But  the  work  was  no  less  divine  for  being  slow;  as  I  believe 
the  reader  will  see  before  he  ends  the  chapter.  The  version 
which  some  prefer,  "Let  light  be,  and  light  was,"  is  not  cor- 
rect; because  as  "God  is  light"  himself,  and  "dwelleth  in  light 
inaccessible,"  it  is  clear  that  Moses  is  not  speaking  of  the 
creation  of  light,  but  of  the  advent  of  light  in  this  terrestrial 
scene  of  impenetrable  darkness — caused  probably  by  the  gradual 
thinning  of  that  envelope  of  extremely  dense  vapors  which 
covered  our  earth  in  its  embryonic  condition. 

Even  in  its  condition  of  chaos,  the  shapeless  mass  of  the 
earth  revolved  daily  on  its  axis,  then  just  as  now;  and  to  this 
is  due  the  fact  that  ever  since  light  entered,  there  have  been 
co-ordinate  and  ceaseless  alternations  of  day  and  night.  "And 
God  called  the  light  Day,  and  the  darkness  he  called  Night." 
The  light  of  those  days,  nevertheless,  would  be  like  the  light  of 
a  densely  cloudy  day;  and  neither  sun,  nor  moon,  nor  stars  would 
appear  anywhere.  To  the  eye  of  a  supposed  spectator  it  would 
be  as  though  they  did  not  exist. 

The  Inadequate  and  inadmissible  translation  of  the  last  part 
of  verse  5,  which  is  repeated  as  the  close  of  the  work  of  each 
of  the  six  days,  "and  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the 
first  day,"  "the  second,"  etc.,  has  given  occasion  for  the  un- 
founded idea  that  the  six  days  of  the  creation  were  composed 
each  of  several  hours  of  darkness  followed  by  others  of  light; 
but  the  correct  translation,  as  given  in  the  Revised  Version, 
(and   in   the   Modern   Spanish   Version),   "and   there   was   even- 


6  GENESIS 

ing  and  there  was  morning,  one  day,"  or  "the  first  day,"  etc., 
teaches  us  that  during  those  days,  however  long  or  short  they 
be  considered,  there  was  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  night 
and  day,  such  as  the  daily  rotation  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis 
would  necessarily  produce.  Moses  ordained  (Lev.  23:  32),  and 
it  is  the  use  and  custom  of  the  Jews  until  this  day,  that  their  feast 
days  should  be  reckoned  from  evening  to  evening;  and  this  is 
perhaps  the  reason  why  the  evening  here  precedes  the  morning. 

[Note  2. — On  the  Days  of  Creation.  It  will  be  convenient 
for  us  .to  stop  at  this  point,  in  order  to  consider  the  question 
of  the  duration  of  those  Six  Days  of  Creation;  and  as  we  have 
disproved  the  old  misleading  opinion  that  the  Bible  teaches  that 
they  were  composed  precisely  of  two  parts,  one  of  darkness 
and  the  other  of  light,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  demonstrate 
that,  just  as  the  Last  Day,  the  Day  of  Judgment,  will  be  a 
very  long  period  of  time,  so  the  six  days  of  creation  were 
periods  of  vast  duration,  in  each  of  which  God  executed  slowly 
a  certain  part  of  the  work  of  preparing  the  earth  to  be  the 
habitation  of  man,  and  the  scene  of  human  redemption.  The 
very  slowness  of  this  preparatory  work  will  help  us  duly 
to  appreciate  the  immense  and  eternal  destinies  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  Bible,  still  await  this  world  of  ours;  the  re- 
demption of  which  brought  down  the  Son  of  God  from  heaven, 
in  order  to  rescue  "the  world,"  which  God  had  made  for  him- 
self, from  the  power  and  dominion  of  Satan,  and  to  make  it 
the  future  habitation  of  the  just.  John  3:  16,  17;  1  John  4:  14; 
Rom.  8:  19-23;  Matt.  25:  34.  These  long  and  successive  periods 
of  preparation  teach  us  also  to  await  with  earnest  desire,  but 
without  impatience,  the  Second  Advent  of  our  Lord,  and  the 
inauguration  of  the  "New  Heavens  and  New  Earth  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness,"  for  which,  says  Peter,  "we — Christians 
— according  to  his  promise  are  waiting."  2  Pet.  3:  13.  Let  us 
note  then: 

1st.  That  it  is  totally  foreign  to  Hebrew  thought  and  usage 
to  say  that  one  day  and  one  night,  taken  together,  constitute 
a  day  of  24  hours;  and  in  fact  the  Bible  says  no  such  thing,  as 
has  been  shown. 

2nd.  The  work  of  creation,  which  in  eh.  1st,  is  apportioned 
among  six  days,  is  said  in  ch.  2:4  to  have  been  effected  in 
one: — "in  the  day  when  Jehovah  God  made  earth  and  heaven." 
It  is  undeniable,  then,  that  the  sacred  writer  himself  makes 
use  of  the  word  "day"  to  signify  a  time,  epoch,  or  period;  as 
if  he  wished  to  furnish  us  the  key  to  his  use  of  the  word  in  the 
previous  chapter. 


CHAPTER  1:  2—5  7 

3rd.  It  is  the  common  use  of  the  Bible  to  employ  the  word 
"day"  to  express  a  period  of  undetermined  extension.  In  the 
prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  it  is  their  almost  unvarying  use 
of  the  word. 

4th.  "The  Last  Day,"  "the  Day  of  the  Lord,"  "the  Day  of 
Judgment,"  is  undoubtedly  a  period  of  immense  duration.  See 
what  Jesus  himself  says  about  "the  last  day"  in  John  6:  39, 
40,  44,  .54;  12:48;  [Matt.  12:36,  31,  42;  Luke  10:12-14;  and 
Paul:  1  Cor.  4:  3-5,  and  Jude  vr.  6.]  Besides  this,  "the  last  day" 
is  also  the  epoch  of  the  "new  creation" — "the  regeneration"  (see 
Matt.  19:  28;  Rev.  21:  5;  Acts  3:  21,  22;  Rom.  8:  19-23),  and  of 
the  installation  of  that  "new  heavens  and  new  earth  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness."  In  correspondence,  then,  with  ''the 
last  clay"  it  is  but  natural  that  the  first  six  clays,  the  days  of 
creation,  be  likewise  regarded  as  long  periods. 

5th.  The  words  of  the  fourth  commandment,  in  which  the 
obligation  to  work  six  days  and  rest  on  the  seventh,  carry 
as  the  reason  annexed  thereto  the  example  of  God  in  his  six 
days'  work  of  creation,  are  not  opposed  to  this  view  of  the 
case;  because  His  days  are  "as  a  thousand  years"  compared 
with  ours;  as  Peter  says  with  special  reference  to  "the  day  of 
judgment*  and  perdition  of  ungodly  men."     2  Pet.  3:7,  8. 

Cth.  In  a  word,  no  man  can  believe,  or  in  fact  does  believe, 
that  "God  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth  and  all  that  in 
them  is,"  in  six  days  of  24  hours,  and  that  Gabriel  and  Satan 
and  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  and  hell  are  no  more  than  six 
natural  days — one  hundred  and  forty-four  hours — older  than 
Adam. 

The  most  ingenious  theory,  if  not  the  most  probable,  with 
regard  to  the  days  of  creation,  as  Moses  speaks  of  them,  is  that 
of  the  eminent  scientist  Hugh  Miller,  who  supposed  that  God 
caused  the  scene  of  creation  to  pass  before  the  mind  of  Moses, 
under  the  form  of  six  distinct  panoramas,  which  glided  slowly  be- 
fore him,  the  one  dissolving  into  the  other;  the  different  days 
being  determined  by  the  periods  of  darkness  which  interposed 
between  them  severally;  and  that  Moses  described  (as  later  was 
the  usage  of  the  prophets  in  visions  of  God)  what  he  saw  before 
him.  So  then  the  writer  related  only  what  was  visible;  and 
what  was  going  on  beneath  the  surface  of  the  waters,  in  its 
invisible  depths,  goes  without  record,  until  in  the  fifth  day  the 

*The  great  Robert  Hall  says  that  "the  day  thus  designated  signifies 
a  portion  of  duration  set  apart  for  this  purpose;  for  which  [according  to 
oiir  present  ideas]  one  might  suppose  an  eternity  would  scarcely  be  too 
great,  when  we  consider  the  immensity  of  the  subject,  and  the  multitude 
of  the  persons  concerned."     Hall's  Works,  Vol.  IV.,  Sermon  40.— Tr. 


8  GENESIS 

great  sea  monsters  and  other  aquatic  animals  became  visible  on 
the  surface  of  the  waters.] 

1:  6 — 8.      THE    SECOND    DAY.       THE    EXPANSE.       HEAVENS. 

6  And  God  said.  Let  there  he  a  firmament*  in  the  midst  of  the 
waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters. 

7  And  God  made  the  firmament,  and  divided  the  waters  which 
were  under  the  firmament  from  the  waters  which  were  above  the 
firmament :  and  it  was  so. 

8  And  God  called  the  firmament  Heaven.  And  there  was  evening 
and  thgfe  was  morning,  a  second  day. 

*Hel).  expanse. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  our  Bibles,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Modern  Spanish  Version,  have  appropriated  from 
the  Latin  Vulgate  the  word  ''firmament"  (instead  of  ''expanse," 
given  in  the  note),  founded  on  the  ancient  and  erroneous  notions 
of  astronomy  which  were  current  in  Europe  until  the  middle  of 
the  17th  century.  Moses  says  nothing  about  "firmament";  and 
the  word  which  he  uses,  which  signifies  "expanse,"  does  not  even 
suggest  the  idea  of  solidity  and  firmness.  Compare  its  use  in 
Ezek.  1:  22;  10:  1,  where  it  represents  an  aerial  platform  or 
"float"  a  species  of  chariot,  borne  by  the  cherubim,  and  on 
which  they  carried  the  God  of  Israel,  seated  above  it,  on  his 
throne. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  work  of  the  first  three  days 
of  creation  was  very  simple  and  extremely  slow.  The  result 
of  what  was  done  on  the  first  day  was  light.  "Whatever  may 
have  been  the  operations  which  were  going  on  in  the  depth  of 
that  dark  abyss  of  waters,  under  the  fecundating  influence 
of  the  "Spirit  of  God,  who  brooded  upon  the  surface  of  the 
waters,"  the  inspired  record  fixes  attention  only  on  what  he- 
came  visible,  when  "God  said  that  the  light  should  shine 
out  of  darkness"  (2  Cor.  4:6);  and  considering  the  chaotic 
condition  of  the  earth,  that  was  work  enough  for  the  first  day, 
although  it  may  have  occupied  many  thousands  of  years.  The 
work  of  the  second  day  was  also  simple  and  slow,  but  grand — 
the  expansion  of  what  we  call  the  "terrestrial  heavens,"  which 
we  now  know  do  not  reach  more  than  fifty  or  sixty  miles 
above  our  heads.  God  made  the  atmosphere  to  serve  as  a 
vehicle  to  bear  upwards  the  aqueous  vapors  of  which  the 
clouds  are  formed,  and  separate  them  thus  from  that  form  of 
the  same  substance  which  we  call  "water";  dividing  in  this 
way  between  "the  waters  which  are  below  the  expanse  from 
the  waters  which  are  above  the  expanse":  which  expanse  God 
called  Heavens.  These  terrestrial  heavens  should  be  carefully 
distinguished   from   the   "heavens"   which   God   created    "in   the 


CHAPTER  1:  9—13  9 

beginning,"  and  from  tlie  heavens  of  the  stars  and  other  astral 
bodies  which  became  visible  on  the  fourth  day.  To  an  ob- 
server, standing  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  atmospheric 
or  terrestrial  heavens  appear  to  be  identical  with  the  heaven 
of  the  stars;  but  Moses,  without  being  an  astronomer,  dis- 
tinguishes carefully  between  the  two,  when  he  says  the  heavens 
of  vr.  8  are  that  apparent  expanse  above  the  seas,  where  float 
the  clouds  that  discharge  their  waters  upon  the  earth.  To 
say  that  Moses  believed  that  there  were  oceans  of  waters  up 
yonder  in  the  regions  of  ether,  which  at  the  Deluge  fell  to  in- 
undate the  earth,  is  an  indication  of  much  ignorance,  of  much 
thoughtlessness,  or  of  much  malice. 

Such  then,  was  the  work  of  the  second  day;  and  with  it 
the  earth  made  another  stride  forward;  and  it  was  a  great 
stride. 

What  was  then  seen,  at  the  end  of  the  second  day,  was 
waters  and  waters:  the  waters  which  floated  in  the  air  in  the 
form  of  clouds  and  dense  mists,  which  allowed  the  light  to 
pass,  but  excluded  the  sight  of  the  sun  which  emitted  it; 
and  here  below  condensed  and  black  waters,  an  ocean  with- 
out limits  and  without  a  shore,  which  enwrapped  the  earth 
completely  around.  Beneath  this  universal  ocean,  as  we  know 
by  the  discoveries  of  modern  science,  primitive  forms  of  life, 
of  low  organization,  were  being  created,  both  vegetable  and 
animal;  beginning  in  the  form  of  elementary  seaweed  and 
of  simple,  minute  shells;  but  as  they  were  not  visible,  noth- 
ing is  said  of  them.  The  fossil  remains  of  these  shells  are 
found  in  the  rocks  that  form  the  foundations  of  continents, 
or  which  by  volcanic  upheavals  have  been  elevated  in  the 
form  of  hills,  mountains  and  Cordilleras.  Many  enormous  masses 
of  such  rock  are  composed  in  their  totality  of  these  marine 
shells. 

1:  9 — 13.      THE   THIRD   DAY.      SEAS.      EARTH.      VEGETATION. 

9  And  God  said,  let  the  waters  under  the  heavens  be  gathered 
together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear :  and  it  was 
so. 

10  And  God  called  the  dry  land  Earth;  and  the  gathering  to- 
gether of  the  waters  called  he  Seas  :  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

11  And  God  said.  Let  the  Earth  put  forth  grass,  herbs  yield- 
ing seed,  and  fruit-trees  bearing  fruit  after  their  kind,  wherein  is  the 
seed  thereof,  upon  the  earth  :  and  it  was  so. 

12  And  the  earth  brought  forth  grass,  herbs  yielding  seed  after 
their  Iclnd,  and  trees  bearing  fruit,  wherein  is  the  seed  thereof,  after 
their  liind ;  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

13  And  there  was   evening  and  there  was   morning,   a  third  day. 

A  globe  of  water  below,  and  above  an  opaque  heaven,  likewise 


10  GENESIS 

charged  with  water, — such  we  may  suppose  was  the  aspect 
which  the  earth  presented  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  day. 
Moses  was  no  scientist,  but  the  scientific  man  of  today,  who 
deserves  the  name,  cannot  less  than  admire  the  accuracy  with 
which  the  Bible  presents  step  by  step,  the  same  order  of  crea- 
tion which  human  science  has  been  able  to  gather  up  from 
"the  testimony  of  the  rocks,"  at  the  close  of  the  19th  cen- 
tury of  the  Christian  Era.  Moses  was  neither  a  philosopher 
nor  a  scientist,  nor  was  there  a  human  observer  when  these 
things  happened,  to  give  an  account  of  them;  how  then,  ex- 
cept by  divine  revelation,  was  he  to  know  of  them,  and  to 
speak  of  them  with  such  sublime  simplicity,  brevity  and  pre- 
cision, not  as  theories,  but  as  facts  which  admitted  of  neither 
doubt  nor  dispute,  1500  years  before  Christ,  and  which  human 
science  had  scarcely  begun  to  trace  1800  years  after  Christ? 
Let  the  reader  compare  with  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  the 
ideas  of  the  sages  of  antiquity,  including  the  most  illustrious 
of  the  Greeks,  Aristotle  and  Plato,  relative  to  the  earth  which 
they  inhabited,  and  confess  that  here  we  see  the  hand  of  God. 
And  let  the  honest  sceptic  consider  whether  this  is  a  beginning 
worthy  of  that  divine  revelation  which  God  has  made  of  his  will 
for  our  salvation. 

The  work  of  the  third  day  was  undoubtedly  effected  by 
what  we  call  volcanic  upheavals.  As  the  huge  bulk  of  the 
earth,  at  one  time  an  incandescent  mass,  gradually  cooled  down, 
by  the  continual  radiation  of  its  heat  into  the  interplanetary 
spaces,  a  thin  but  constantly  thickening  crust  of  solid  mat- 
ter would  gradually  form  on  its  surface,  and  this  in  turn  be- 
come gradually  covered  with  a  universal  ocean  of  waters,  con- 
densed from  the  aqueous  vapors,  in  which  form  they  first  ex- 
isted. At  the  same  time,  our  globe,  contracting  more  and  more 
in  size,  under  the  double  action  of  the  reduction  of  its  heat 
and  the  law  of  gravitation,  that  thin  but  gradually  thicken- 
ing crust  of  solid  matter  beneath  this  universal  ocean  would 
necessarily  treak  into  folds,  not  in  confused  masses,  but  neces- 
sarily, as  such  breaks  always  do,  in  some  general  order;  and 
in  their  successive  upheavals  from  beneath  the  waters,  under 
the  directing  hand  and  providence  of  God,  would  form  the 
systems  of  hills,  and  mountains  and  great  Cordilleras  of  the 
world;  while  the  corresponding  depressions  of  other  parts  of 
the  earthy  crust  would  form  the  vast  abysses  of  the  ocean; 
which  in  the  time  of  its  universal  dominion  was  not  so  deep 
as  at  present.  To  this,  as  we  understand  it,  refer  the  follow- 
ing words:     "And   God   said,   Let  the  waters   which   are   under 


CHAPTER  1:  9—13  11 

the  heavens  be  gathered  together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the 
dry  land  appear.  .  .  .  And  God  called  the  dry  land  Earth, 
and  the  gathering  together  of  the  waters  called  he  Seas."  Vrs. 
9-10.  No  scientist  of  today  can  tell  it  with  so  much  grandeur, 
or  with  greater  precision!  Such  was  the  work  of  the  former 
part  of  the  third  day;  and  in  this  case,  as  in  the  former  ones, 
it  was  of  slow  operation,  and  prolonged  through  many  ages 
— a  slow  operation  which  still  continues  to  change  in  some 
degree  the  topography  and  configuration  of  lands  and  seas. 

As  the  mountain  chains  and  continents  were  thus  being 
slowly  elevated,  or  sometimes  rapidly,  out  of  the  depths  of  this 
universal  ocean,  God  continued  to  stock  them  with  grass,  plants, 
and  trees,  each  "according  to  its  kind,"  and  which  "yielded  seed, 
each  according  to  its  kind."  It  is  probable  thjat  in  those  illimit- 
able ages  of  the  past,  God  created  the  different  families  of  the 
vegetable  world,  and  later,  those  of  the  animal  world,  not  in 
great  forests  and  in  immense  herds,  but  as  at  last  he  did  the 
human  family,  one  by  one,  as  individuals,  or  pairs,  leaving  them 
to  propagate,  and  thus  to  fill  the  earth.  In  all  the  miracles  of 
the  Bible  we  observe  this  economy  of  divine  poiver;  and  it  is  in 
keeping  with  God's  other  works  and  in  agreement  with  the  con- 
clusions of  human  science,  that  every  family  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals, which  are  identical  in  their  characteristic  features,  had 
also  the  same  origin.  And  the  law  of  identical  reproduction, 
which  Moses  lays  down  with  regard  to  plants  here,  and  in  vrs. 
24,  25  repeats  with  regard  to  the  animal  creation,  appears 
categorically  to  exclude  the  theory  of  Evolution,  which  would 
subvert  the  doctrine  of  an  original  creation  of  plants  and  animals 
by  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God,  and  establish  in  its  stead  the 
atheistic  or  pantheistic  view  that  the  world,  as  it  exists  today, 
has  developed  itself,  by  means  of  an  evolution  of  the  lower  forms 
of  vegetable  and  animal  life  into  others  more  complex  and  perfect. 
This  the  sacred  text  seems  to  contradict  completely;  and  all 
human  experience  and  observation  condemn  it  no  less,  showing 
that  each  family  or  race  reproduces  itself  "after  its  kind."  All 
the  world  recognizes  and  practices  evolution  within  the  limits 
of  each  particular  family  (or  genus),  and  an  intelligent  selection, 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  reproduction,  is  the  way  in  which 
florists,  horticulturalists  and  cattle  breeders  improve  the  different 
species;  but  all  human  observation  goes  to  prove  that  the  re- 
production of  every  family  "according  to  its  kind"  is  the  utmost 
that  nature  is  capable  of;  and  the  natural  variations  from  this 
rule  are  always  from  good  to  had,  and  never  from  bad  to  good. 


12  GENESIS 

The  deterioration,  the  degradation  of  species,  is  the  law  of  our 
world,  and  not  the  opposite. 

[Note  3. — On  Moses  and  the  Scientists.  Moses  did  not  propose 
to  write  a  natural  history  of  the  creation,  but  a  narrative  which 
should  serve  as  a  preface  to  the  history  of  human  redemption; 
and  he  shows  us  how  God  made  the  world,  "the  footstool  for  his 
feet,"  as  a  habitation  for  that  human  race  which  he  made  for 
himself,  and  which  after  it  became  lost  by  its  horrible  apostasy, 
he  has  proposed  to  redeem  anew  for  himself.  It  is  therefore  only 
losing  time  to  occupy  ourselves  with  the  endeavor  to  harmonize 
the  brief  and"  sublime  words  of  the  Bible  in  reference  to  the  work 
of  creation  in  its  six  days,  with  some  one  or  other  of  the  differ- 
ent systems,  confessedly  imperfect  and  incomplete,  and  often  con- 
tradictory, which  the  geologists  are  elaborating,  with  more  or  less 
skill,  from  the  study  of  the  earth  itself.  It  is  a  vain  endeavor  to 
try  to  extract  from  the  writings  of  Moses  what  he  himself  never 
thought  of  putting  Into  them.  It  is  enough  to  know  that  the 
conformity  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  with  the  real  and  certain 
discoveries  of  science  is  notable  in  the  highest  degree,  and  does 
not  admit  of  any  reasonable  explanation  whatever,  aside  from 
that  which  the  Scripture  itself  affirms,  viz.,  that  Moses  and  the 
other  prophets  of  the  ancient  time  did  not  write  according  to  the 
promptings  of  their  own  will,  but  "holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."    2  Peter  1:  21.] 

The  first  form  of  life  of  which  this  record  treats  is  vegetable 
life;  and  this  on  the  third  day,  after  God  had  formed  the  dry 
land.  Science  also  discovers  to  us  the  fact  that  upon  the  mineral 
kingdom  is  founded  the  vegetable,  and  upon  the  vegetable  king- 
dom, the  animal,  and  between  each  of  these  kingdoms  is  inter- 
posed an  impassable  abyss.  The  inorganic  matter  of  the  mineral 
kingdom  is  totally  incapable  of  life;  but  transmuted  by  means  of 
vegetable  life  into  a  different  kind  of  matter,  which  we  call 
"vegetable,"  it  answers  not  only  its  own  legitimate  and  proper 
uses,  but  serves  also  as  a  basis  for  the  existence  and  nutrition  of 
individuals  of  the  animal  kingdom.  Dead  inorganic  matter  is 
vitalized,  when  transmuted  into  the  vegetable,  and  is  elevated  to 
still  higher  forms  of  life,  when  the  vegetable  is  transmuted  into 
the  animal;  so  that  in  the  natural  order,  the  mineral  kingdom 
necessarily  precedes  the  vegetable,  and  this  the  animal;  and  such 
is  precisely  the  order  which  Moses  describes.  It  has  already 
been  said  that,  underneath  the  waters,  forms  of  vegetable  and 
animal  life  existed  long  ages  before  there  was  dry  land  for 
terrestrial  plants  and  animals;  but  even  in  this  case,  vegetable  life 
necessarily  preceded  the  animal. 


CHAPTER  1:  14—19  13 

1:  14 — 19.      THE    FOUETH    DAY.      CELESTIAL   LUMINAEIES. 

14  And  God  said.  Let  there  be  lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven 
to  divide  the  day  from  the  night ;  and  let  them  be  for  signs,  and  for 
seasons,  and  for  days  and  years : 

15  and  let  them  be  for  lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  to  give 
light  upon  the  earth  :   and  it  was  so. 

IG  And  God  made  the  two  great  lights ;  the  greater  light  to  rvile 
the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night :  he  made  the  stars 
also. 

17  And  God  set  them  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  to  give  light  upon 
the  earth, 

18  and  to  rule  over  the  day  and  over  the  night,  and  to  divide  the 
light  from  the  darkness :   and  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

19  And  there  was  evening  and  there  was  morning,  a  fourth 
day. 

It  is  a  thing  well  known  to-day,  even  by  school  children,  that 
the  earth  revolves  around  the  sun,  and  that  it  is  the  force  or 
attraction  of  gravitation  that  holds  the  earth  and  the  other 
planets  of  our  solar  system  in  its  powerful  grasp,  while,  with 
prodigious  rapidity,  they  perform  their  annual  revolutions  around 
the  sun.  This  paragraph,  therefore,  serves  as  a  stumbling-block 
to  many  humble  Christians,  and  as  a  laughing-stock  for  the 
enemies  of  the  Bible;  as  if  it  showed  that  Moses,  for  the  lack  of 
scientific  knowledge,  had  fallen  into  the  egregious  blunder  of  say- 
ing that  God  made  the  sun,  the  moon  and  the  stars  three  days 
after  the  light  existed  and  the  regular  alternations  of  night  and 
day.  But  that  is  a  very  safe  rule  which  Paul  lays  down  for  our 
guidance  in  1  Cor.  1:  25:  that  "the  foolishness  of  God  is  wiser 
than  men,  and  the  weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  men."  The 
sacred  writer  had  already  said  that  the  "heavens"  were  created 
"in  the  beginning"  and  as  the  terrestrial  heavens  were  the  work 
of  the  second  day,  what  "heavens"  were  those  which  existed  from 
the  "beginning"  except  those  which  we  call  "sidereal" — the  place 
of  the  sun  and  of  the  other  celestial  orbs?  In  this  relation 
Moses  describes  things,  not  as  they  are  in  themselves,  but  accord- 
ing to  the  appearance  they  tvould  present  to  the  eye  of  an  ob' 
server,  or  as  they  would  be  seen  in  a  panorama  of  creation  pre- 
sented to  his  eye  in  a  vision.  And  if  the  light  of  vr.  3  was,  as 
we  suppose  it  to  have  been,  the  dawning  and  increasing  light  of 
the  sun  as  it  penetrated  more  and  more  the  envelope  of  dense 
vapors  which  completely  covered  the  earth,  in  proportion  as  it 
became  gradually  thinner,  from  the  first  day  until  the  fourth,  the 
veil  of  clouds  and  vapors  would  at  last  be  completely  dissipated 
(precisely  as  happens  now,  after  several  days  of  clouds  and  rain^  ; 
and  the  clear  light  of  the  sun  would  present  itself  to  the  sight  ly 
day,  and  the  moon  with  its  accompaniment  of  stars  by  night, 
as  if  it  were  a  new  creation;  and  the  phenomenon  so  surprising 


14  GENESIS 

could  not  be  more  exactly  described  than  in  the  sublimely  simple 
words  which  Moses  uses. 

Such  was  the  work  of  the  fourth  day — the  causing  that  the  sun 
and  moon  and  stars  should  present  themselves  to  the  sight,  and 
the  appointing  them  to  be  luminaries  for  the  earth;  and  as  this 
resulted  naturally  from  the  gradual  purification  of  the  atmos- 
pheric heavens  (a  process  which  was  in  constant  operation  ever 
since  the  first  day),  it  is  not  probable  that  the  fourth  day  could 
compare  in  point  of  duration  with  any  other  of  the  six.  Its  dis- 
tinctive mark  was  the  apparition  of  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars, 
which  existed  long  before.  But  during  the  fourth  day,  however 
long  or  short  it  may  have  been,  the  processes  already  inaugurated 
in  the  waters  and  on  the  earth,  in  the  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms,  would  continue  in  their  natural  and  invariable  course, 
and  the  earth  would  go  on  slowly  preparing  itself  to  be  the  habi- 
tation of  him  who  was  to  be  the  end  and  consummation  of  the 
work  of  creation —  Man:  whom  God  was  to  constitute  owner  and 
lord  of  all  created  things. 

1:  20 — 23.       THE    FIFTH    DAY.       AQUATIC    ANIMALS.  BIRDS. 

20  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  swarm  with  swarms  of  living 
creatures,*  and  let  birds  fly  above  the  earth  in  the  open  firma- 
ment of  heaven. 

21  And  God  created  the  great  sea-monsters,  and  every  living 
creaturet  that  moveth,  wherewith  the  waters  swarmed,  after  their 
kind,  and  every  winged  bird  after  its  kind :  and  God  saw  that  it 
was  good. 

22  And  God  blessed  them,  saying.  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and 
fill  the  waters  in  the  seas,  and  let  birds  multiply  on  the  earth. 

23  And  there  was  evening  and  there  was  morning,  a  fifth  day. 

[*Heh.  living  souls.]  UHei.  living  soul.] 

Modern  science  reveals  to  us  with  indubitable  certainty  the 
fact  that  in  remote  epochs,  represented  conveniently  by  the 
third,  fourth  and  fifth  days,  and  the  former  part  of  the  sixth, 
the  earth  was  not  habitable  for  man;  and  that  in  epochs  still 
more  remote,  the  air  and  the  seas  were  so  charged  with  car- 
bonic acid,  lime  and  other  hurtful  substances,  that  the  earth 
was  not  habitable  for  any  of  the  animals  of  superior  organiza- 
tion, nor  the  water  for  articulate  fish,  nor  the  air  for  birds; 
and  that  the  lime  was  eliminated  from  the  waters  principally 
by  the  gradual  deposition  of  the  enormous  limestone  rocks, 
several  miles  in  thickness,  which  now  exist,  and  the  carbonic 
acid  was  eliminated  from  the  air  principally  by  the  formation 
of  the  immense  forests  of  those  times  which  went  to  form 
vegetable  soil  for  our  fields,  and  the  inexhaustible  mines  of 
mineral  coal   for  our   work::hops.     Modern   science  also   demon- 


CHAPTER  1:  20—23  15 

strates  that  the  first  forms  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  were 
of  very  low  organization,  and  that  as  the  conditions  gradually 
became  more  propitious,  fishes,  birds  and  animals  of  superior 
organization  went  on  presenting  themselves  in  the  world;  not, 
however,  by  the  slow  transformation  of  inferior  into  superior 
orders  of  being,  but  complete  and  entire,  each  "after  its  kind," 
and  to  reproduce  "after  its  kind,"  by  the  powerful  hand  of  the 
Creator. 

Thus  it  happened  that  on  the  fifth  day,  the  conditions  of  the 
water  and  of  the  air  being  now  favorable,  the  waters  began  to 
swarm  with  new  animals  of  higher  organization,  and  many  of 
them  of  extraordinary  bulk;  "great  sea-monsters,"  and  fishes  of 
higher  order;  and  the  air  began  to  be  peopled  with  winged  fowl, 
of  every  kind:  "And  God  said.  Let  the  waters  bring  forth 
abundantly  the  moving  creature  that  hath  life,  and  let  fowl  fly 
above  the  earth  in  the  open  firmament  {He'b.  expanse)  of  heaven. 
And  God  created  the  great  sea  monsters,"  etc.    Vrs.  20,  21. 

The  fossil  remains  of  those  times  in  fact  show  that  there  were 
then  "great  sea-monsters,"  of  forms  now  unknown,  which  were 
the  lords  of  the  seas,  and  terrible  beyond  all  exaggeration;  pre- 
cisely as  Moses  says  with  regard  to  the  fifth  day:  for  although 
we  now  have  some  great  fishes,  as  whales  and  sharks,  nobody 
would  speak  of  "great  sea-monsters"  as  a  distinctive  trait  of  our 
modern  seas.  The  "swarms  of  living  souls,"  we  indeed  have; 
although  it  may  be  in  less  abundance  than  at  that  time.  The 
original  of  vr.  20  is  "Let  the  waters  swarm  forth  swarms  of  living 
souls";  and  it  has  reference  to  the  innumerable  and  incredibly 
prolific  hosts  of  animated  beings  which  inhabit  the  seas  and  the 
rivers.  Nothing  of  all  that  is  known  on  the  earth,  or  in  the  air, 
is  comparable  in  point  of  fecundity  with  the  fishes:  the  female  of 
the  salmon  in  a  single  season  spawning  near  a  half  a  million  of 
eggs.  Such  is  the  fecundity  of  fishes,  that  if  it  were  not  for  the 
destruction  that  is  made  first  of  the  eggs,  and  then  of  the  little 
fish  after  they  are  hatched,  in  a  short  time  they  would  literally 
fill  the  seas  and  the  rivers. 

[Note  4. — On  "Living  Souls."  All  the  infinitude  of  fishes 
and  other  aquatic  animals  are  called  "living  souls"  in  the  original 
text  of  vrs.  20,  21.  In  vr.  24  of  this  chapter,  the  beasts,  and  cattle, 
and  reptiles  ("creeping  things")  which  inhabit  the  dry  land,  are 
likewise  called  "living  souls."  In  vr.  30,  of  "every  beast  of  the 
earth  and  every  bird  of  the  heavens"  it  is  said  that  they  "have  in 
them  a  living  soul."  And  in  ch.  2:7  it  is  affirmed  that  when 
Jehovah  God  breathed  the  breath  of  life  into  the  nostrils  of  the 
man  h»  had  formed  of  clay,  "the  man   (also)   became  a  living 


16  GENESIS 

soul."  The  inspired  text  makes  use  of  the  identical  phrase  with 
regard  to  all  of  them.  To  change,  therefore,  arbitrarily  the 
words  into  "living  creature"  (or  animal)  in  the  case  of  birds, 
reptiles,  fishes,  "cattle,"  and  wild  beasts  and  reserve  "living  souls" 
as  a  distinctive  trait  of  man  alone  in  the  animal  creation,  is  in 
my  opinion  totally  unwarranted,  and  gives  room  for  very  false 
inferences:  as  for  example  the  very  common  error  of  believing 
that  "living  soul"  is  the  same  as  "immortal  soul."  Of  this  er- 
roneous translation  those  who  call  themselves  "Christian  Evolu- 
tionists" seize  hold  in  order  to  affirm  that  man  descended  from  a 
long  line  of  animal  forefathers,  and  that  he  himself  would  have 
continued  to  be  a  mere  animal,  if  (as  they  say,  "according  to  the 
Bible")  God  had  not  superadded  to  him  a  "living  soul,"  the  which 
differentiated  him  at  once  from  the  animal  creation.  But  this 
is  not  according  to  the  Bible,  but  rather  according  to  an  inad- 
equate and  incorrect  rendering  of  what  the  Bible  says.  That 
which  Moses  affirms  in  the  clearest  and  most  emphatic  language, 
is  that  God  communicated  life — "a  living  soul" — to  all  the  differ- 
ent orders  of  the  animal  creation;  and  when  he  breathed  the 
breath  of  life  into  the  nostrils  of  the  clay  which  he  had  formed 
to  be  man,  the  dead  matter  came  also  to  be  what  birds,  reptiles, 
fishes,  cattle,  and  beasts  had  been  before  him,  to  wit,  "a  living 
soul,"  and  participated  in  the  same  animal  life  as  they.  As 
Calvin  says  in  this  place,  there  is  nothing  in  the  Hebrew  text, 
outside  of  the  circumstantial  relation  of  the  distinguishing  man- 
ner in  which  God  communicated  to  him  the  breath  of  life,  which 
suggests  the  idea  that  together  with  the  animal  soul,  which  wa 
have  in  common  with  irrational  creatures,  God  also  communicated 
to  him  a  rational  and  immortal  soul. 

The  correct  apprehension  of  this  phrase  is  indispensable  to 
the  proper  understanding  of  the  use  which  Paul  makes  of  it 
in  regard  to  the  resurrection  of  the  body  in  1  Cor.  15:  45  (A.  V.) : 
"And  so  it  is  written.  The  first  man,  Adam,  was  made  a  living 
soul;  the  last  Adam  was  made  a  quickening  spirit";  which  leaves 
the  ordinary  reader  completely  bewildered,  who  understands  "a 
living  soul"  to  be  an  immortal  soul.  What  the  apostle  really  gives 
us  to  understand  is,  that  with  the  breath  of  God  Adam  came 
into  possession  of  an  animal  life;  but  Christ,  raised  from  the 
dead,  came  to  be  "a  life-giving  spirit"  (without  ceasing  to  have  a 
material  body),  and  the  Author  of  spiritual  life,  in  soul  and 
body,  to  all  his  lineage.  Life  is  in  itself  the  greatest  of  all  mys- 
teries; and  wise  men  confess  their  complete  ignorance  as  to  what 
it  is,  and  in  what  it  consists;  and  it  is  much  better  where  we 
know  nothing,  to  leave  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  spake  by  Moses,  to 


CHAPTER  1:  24—31  17 

speak  of  it  as  he  pleases,  and  not  as  we  would  have  him  speak. 
It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  the  Spanish  Dictionary  attributes 
"soul"  to  plants  as  well  as  to  men  and  other  animals:  to  all  of 
them  the  "soul"  is  the  principle  of  animal  and  vegetable  life.  In 
this,  the  Modern  Spanish  Version  follows  faithfully  the  Hebrew 
text.  The  R.  V.  more  correctly  translates  the  passage:  "So  also 
it  is  written:  The  first  man,  Adam,  became  a  living  soul.  The 
last  Adam  became  a  life-giving  spirit."    1  Cor.  15:  45.] 

1:  24 — 31.       THE    SIXTH    DAY.         TEREESTRIAI.    ANIMALS.         MAN. 

(4004  B.  c.    According  to  the  LXX,  5503  b.  c;  Hales  5411.) 

24  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  living  creatures* 
after  their  kind,  cattle,  and  creeping  things,  and  beasts  of  the  earth 
after  their  kind  :  and  it  was  so. 

25  And  God  made  the  beasts  of  the  earth  after  their  kind,  and 
the  cattle  after  their  kind,  and  everything  that  creepeth  upon  the 
ground  after  its  kind ;  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

26  And  God  said.  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  like- 
ness :  and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over 
the  birds  of  the  heavens,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth, 
and  over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth. 

27  And  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God 
created  he  him ;   male  and  female  created  he  them. 

28  And  God  blessed  them :  and  God  said  unto  them.  Be  fruitful, 
and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it ;  and  have 
dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  birds  of  the  heavens, 
and  over  every  living  thing  that   moveth  upon  the  earth. 

29  And  God  said.  Behold,  I  have  given  you  every  herb  yielding 
seed,  which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth,  and  every  tree,  in  which 
is  the  fruit  of  a  tree  yielding  seed ;  to  you  it  shall  be  for  food : 

30  and  to  every  beast  of  the  earth,  and  to  every  bird  of  the 
heavens,  and  to  everything  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth,  wherein 
there  is  life,t  /  have  given  every  green  herb  for  food :  and  it  was  so. 

31  And  God  saw  everything  that  he  had  made,  and,  behold,  it  was 
very  good.  And  there  was  evening  and  there  was  morning,  the  sixth 
day. 

[*Hel>.  living  souls.]  fHeb.  a  living  soul. 

The  sixth  day,  like  the  third,  falls  naturally  into  two  parts  or 
divisions.  In  the  former  part  of  this  day  God  made  terrestrial 
animals;  but  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that,  having  on  the  third  day 
created  grass,  plants  and  trees,  he  should  allow  the  fourth  and  the 
fifth  days  to  pass  without  creating  any  terrestrial  animals  to  make 
use  of  their  proper  aliment,  so  provided.  Nor  is  it  to  be  believed  that 
the  plants,  fishes,  birds  and  land  animals  were  created  precisely 
and  only  on  the  day  indicated  for  each  class.  Before  the  third 
day,  plants  and  animals  existed  in  the  illimitable  ocean,  which 
then  covered  the  entire  globe:  and  it  is  known  by  the  "testimony 
of  the  rocks,"  which  is  as  certain  in  its  own  department  as  is  the 
testimony  of  the  Book,  that  God  did  not  create  the  finer  plants 
and  grains  for  the  use  of  man,  together  with  the  most  precious 


18  GENESIS 

flowers  and  fruit,  which  serve  for  the  use  of  man,  rather  than  for 
the  beasts,  until  the  sixth  day,  and  about  the  same  time  that  he 
created  the  human  race.  The  simpler  plants  and  animals,  and 
those  of  powerful  rather  than  delicate  organization,  were  first 
created,  and  in  remote  epochs;  while  those  of  superior  quality 
and  organization  were  gradually  introduced  according  as  the 
physical  conditions  of  the  world  continued  to  improve.  The 
Mosaic  relation  in  no  respect  contradicts  this:  for  it  only  indi- 
cates, first,  the  visible  changes  effected  in  the  order  of  creation; 
and  second,  the  great  characteristics  which  were  distinctive  of 
the  different  days  or  epochs. 

Animals,  therefore,  of  lower  order,  and  principally  those 
which  we  call  "cold-blooded,"  capable  of  existing  under  .the  most 
unfavorable  conditions,  as,  for  example,  reptiles  like  toads,  frogs 
and  other  amphibious  animals,  inhabited  the  dry  land  from  the 
time  it  was  raised  out  of  the  waters,  and  provided  with  grass  and 
plants  and  trees;  and  others  also  were  introduced  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  days,  without  being  really  characteristic  of  them.  But  the 
sixth  day  was  that  which  had  for  its  distinctive  peculiarity 
the  animal  creation — "beasts  and  reptiles,  and  wild  beasts  of  the 
earth,  according  to  their  kind."  Here  also  modern  science,  in  its 
most  certain  discoveries,  reveals  the  fact  that  the  stronger  ani- 
mals, and  often  of  gigantic  size,  were  first  created  and  afterwards 
those  of  finer  organization  and  superior  race:  the  which  (like 
our  domestic  animals,  sheep,  goats  and  neat  cattle)  began  to 
exist  but  a  short  while  before  man;  the  necessary  conditions  for 
their  existence  being  more  or  less  the  isame. 

The  word  "reptiles"  (creeping  things),  vrs.  24,  25  (which  in 
the  Modern  Spanish  Version  is  used  for  lack  of  a  better),  will 
not  adjust  itself  to  our  classification  of  this  name,  embracing 
cold-blooded  animals;  which  existed  many  of  them  in  the  pre- 
ceding epochs.  The  Hebrew  language  knows  little  of  scientific 
classification.  These  terrestrial  "reptiles"  are  called  in  the  He- 
brew text  "craivlers"  or  "creepers"  and  besides  those  that  prop- 
erly crawl  or  creep,  include  those  which  walk  on  four  or  more 
short  legs,  and  go  squat,  close  to  the  earth.  In  Lev.  11:  29,  30, 
under  this  denomination  ("creepers"  or  "crawlers")  are  men- 
tioned "the  weasel,  the  mouse,  the  tortoise,  the  porcupine,  the 
crocodile,  the  lizard,  the  locust  and  the  chameleon." 

When  the  air  and  the  waters  had  become  thus  purified,  and 
the  land  fertilized  and  beautified,  and  provided  with  all  its  ani- 
mals, and  all  the  products  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  a 
garden  of  delights  had  been  prepared  for  the  alimentation  and 
recreation  of  Man,  in  the  second  part  of  the  sixth  day  God  made 


CHAPTER  1:  24—31  19 

him  also,  and  constituted  him  lord  and  owner  of  all  created 
things,  and  placed  him  in  the  paradise  which  he  had  already 
prepared  for  him.     Ch.  2:  8 — 15. 

The  language  in  which  Moses  represents  to  us  the  creation  of 
man  is  very  striking:  "And  God  said:  Let  us  make  man  in  our 
image,  after  our  likeness;  and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the 
fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle, 
and  over  all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth."  Vr.  26.  Most  notable  is  this  consulta- 
tion. Says  the  prophet  Isaiah:  "WitJi  whom  took  he  counsel?" 
(Isa.  40:14);  but  here  we  have  the  consultation  of  the  Most 
High  God  with  himself;  and  this  in  regard  to  the  creation  of  that 
Man  who  has  so  ill  fulfilled  the  high  designs  of  his  Creator. 
Take  special  note  of  the  words  "Let  us  make,"  "our  image,"  "our 
likeness."  With  the  exception  of  ch.  3:  22,  where  there  seems  to 
have  been  another  consultation  upon  the  fall  of  man,  and  ch.  11: 
7,  where  it  is  repeated  with  regard  to  the  proud  pretensions  of 
men,  on  building  the  city  and  tower  of  Babylon,  I  believe  that  this 
form  does  not  again  occur  in  all  Holy  Scripture.  With  whom  then 
did  he  consult?  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  it  was  not  a  con- 
sultation with  angels.  A  plurality  of  dignity  (according  to  the 
magniloquent  style  of  Bishops  and  Popes,  who  say:  "We,  So 
and  So,  ordain,"  etc.)  is  completely  outside  the  use  of  the  word 
of  God,  which  never  affects  grandeur  of  any  kind.  But  there 
was  One  who  afterwards  "became  flesh,"  being  born  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  who  is  expressly  called,  "Wonderful,  Counsellor,  Mighty 
God,  Father  of  the  Eternal  Age  (Mod.  Span.  Ver.) — Latin  Vul- 
gate, 'Father  of  the  Future  Age,'  or  World  to  Come — Prince  of 
Peace"  (Isa.  9:  6),  of  whom  we  know  full  well  that  "he  was  in 
the  beginning  with  God"  (John  1:2):  and  with  express  reference 
to  this  same  work  of  creation,  he  says,  under  the  pseudonym  of 
Wisdom: 

"Then  was  I  by  him,  as  a  master  workman   [or 

architect  of  all] ; 
and  I  was  daily  his  delight, 
rejoicing  always  before  him: 
rejoicing  in  his  habitable  earth: 
and  my  delight  was  with  the  sons  of  men." 

Prov.  8:  30,  31. 

Two  persons,  then,  took  part  in  this  consultation,  the  Father 
and  Son,  which  interested  them  personally  most  deeply;  and  we 
do  not  hesitate  to  affirm,  having  the  open  Bible  before  us,  that 
that  Divine  Spirit  who  brooded  over  the  face  of  the  waters,  and 


20  GENESIS 

•was  and  is  the  immediate  Author  of  life  in  all  its  forms,  was  the 
third  person  in  said  consultation. 

"Image  and  likeness  of  God"  cannot  be  understood  of  cor- 
poreal form,  speaking  of  him  who  is  pure  spirit.  In  Col.  3:  10 
and  Eph.  4:  23,  24,  Paul  explains  the  meaning  of  the  words  per- 
fectly, where  speaking  of  our  renovation  into  the  lost  image  of 
God,  he  says:  "And  have  put  on  the  new  man,  who  is  being  re- 
neived  in  knowledge,  after  the  image  of  him  that  created  him"; 
and  again:  "And  that  ye  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind, 
and  put  on  the  new  man,  who  after  [the  image  of]  God,  hath 
heen  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness."  The  image  and 
likeness  of  God,  then,  consisted  in  the  possession  of  a  spiritual 
nature  (besides  his  corporeal  and  animal  part);  and  this  con- 
sisted in  intellectual  and  moral  faculties,  and  also  in  a  holy, 
spiritual  and  immortal  life. 

This  human  being,  in  part  animal,  in  part  spiritual  (perhaps 
the  first  experiment  which  God  had  made  of  uniting  in  one 
subject  brute  matter  and  immortal  soul),  the  representative 
and  image  of  God  who  created  him,  was  to  have  the  dominion 
over  all  created  things,  animal,  vegetable  and  mineral;  and  he 
received  commandment  "to  be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  re- 
plenish the  earth  and  subdue  it."  It  is  therefore  but  an  absurd 
and  ridiculous  notion,  invented  by  celibate  priests  and  friars,  and 
universally  disseminated  in  Spanish-speaking  lands,  that  the 
woman  was  herself  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  that  the  use  of  mar- 
riage it  was  by  which  man  fell,  bringing  ruin  upon  himself  and 
his  posterity.  From  the  beginning  it  was,  and  still  is  the  will  of 
God  that  "every  man  have  his  own  wife,  and  every  woman  her 
own  husband."  1  Cor.  7:  2.  Those  who  hold  to  the  monastic 
and  semi-manichean  idea  that  the  marriage  state  is  in  itself  im- 
pure, or  that  in  any  case  it  is  less  holy  than  the  celibate  condi- 
tion, will  do  well  to  observe  that  the  first  commandment  which 
God  imposed  upon  the  man  and  the  woman  in  their  state  of 
original  holiness  (being  then  as  holy  as  the  angels),  was:  "Be 
fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth"  (vr.  28);  and  if 
they  had  refused  to  do  this,  taking  upon  themselves,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  monastic  vows  of  the  so-called  "angelical  life,"  they 
would  have  sinned  and  fallen,  just  as  certainly  as  by  eating  the 
forbidden  fruit. 

CH.   2:    1 — 3.    THE   SEVENTH  DAY.   THE  REST.   AND  ITS  COMMEMORATION. 

(4004  B.  c.  According  to  the  LXX,  5503  b.  c;  Hales,  5411.) 

1  And  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished,  and  all  the  host 
of  them. 


CHAPTER  2:  1—3  2l 

2  And  on  the  seventh  day  God  finished  his  work  which  he  had 
made ;  and  he  rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all  his  work  which 
he  had  made. 

3  And  God  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  hallowed  it ;  because 
that  in  it  he  rested  from  all  his  work  which  God  had  created  and 
made. 

"The  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  all  the  host  of  them"'  (or,  as 
the  same  thing  is  expressed  in  Ex.  20:  11,  "all  that  in  them  is"), 
having  been  thus  finished,  God  "rested";  which  means  that  he 
ceased  from  his  creative  activity;* — a  positive  declaration,  which 
bounds,  and  distinguishes  between,  the  works  of  Creation  and 
Providence.  So  that  the  words  of  our  Saviour  in  John  5:17: 
"My  father  worketh  hitherto  and  I  work,"  do  not  allow  of  the 
use  which  some  "Christian  evolutionists"  desire  to  make  of  them, 
in  order  to  accredit  their  contention  that  "the  work  of  creation" 
is  still  going  on.  The  certainty  is  that  according  to  the  theory, 
or  theories,  of  Evolution,  whether  "Christian"  or  unchristian, 
there  never  has  been  any  work  of  creation,  but  a  work  of  pro- 
creation from  the  beginning  of  life  in  the  world, — which  is  a 
work  of  providence,  if  there  be  one;  so  that  "creation"  and 
"providence"  are  confounded,  according  to  this  system.  The 
Bible,  on  the  contrary,  emphatically  declares  that  the  work  of 
creation  had  already  ceased  with  the  sixth  day,  and  God  entered 
on  the  period  of  rest  (=  suspension  or  cessation  of  his  creative 
activities)  on  the  seventh  day.  Moses  says  that  God  commem- 
orated this  rest  of  his  with  the  institution,  for  the  benefit  of  man, 
of  the  weekly  sabbath,  or  rest-day.  This  sabbath,  or  rest,  fell  on 
the  seventh  day;  but  that  was  not  the  name  of  the  seventh  day. 
In  the  Bible  the  days  of  the  week  are  called  by  their  numbers, 
first,  second,  etc.,  and  not  by  any  distinguishing  name;  and  it  is 
to  be  lamented  that  in  Spanish  the  seventh  day  should  be  called 
"Sdbado"  (=  Sabbath),  which  is  not  a  day  of  rest.  In  the  Old 
Testament  any  day  of  the  week  was  a  "sabbath"  which  was  of 
strict  religious  observance,  as  the  Day  of  Expiation,  which  fell  on 
the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month.  Lev.  16:  29,  31.  At  the  pass- 
over  and  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread,  three  "sabbaths"  usually 
occurred  in  the  eight  days  of  the  combined  feasts.  Passover  fell 
on  the  14th  of  the  month  Abib;  and  the  15th,  whatever  the  day  of 
the  week,  was  a  "sabbath"  =  rest-day,  by  positive  statute  (Lev.  23: 
5 — 8),  and  is  called  "sabbath"  in  vr.  11  (the  22nd,  seven  days  later, 
being  a  rest-day  also) ;  and  when  the  weekly  sabbath  coincided 
with  this,  the  Jews  called  it  a  "double  sabbath."  The  same 
thing  happened  in  the  feast  of  tabernacles    (or  booths),  which 

•The  same  Hebrew  verb,  "shahath,"  is  translated  "cease"  in  Isa.  14 :  4 ; 
24  :  8,  twice ;  33  :  8 ;  Lam.  5 :  14,  15,  and  other  times  not  a  few. 


22  GENESIS 

began  on  the  15th  day  of  the  month  and  lasted  eight  days,  of 
which  the  first  and  the  last,  whatever  the  day  of  the  week,  were 
days  of  strict  observance:  "No  servile  work  shall  ye  do  therein." 
Lev.  23:  34 — 36.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  not  only  was  the  tenth 
day  of  the  seventh  month  ("the  day  of  expiation")  a  rest-day, 
whatever  the  day  of  the  week,  but  it  is  called  "a  sabbath  of  solemn 
rest,"  in  Lev.  16:  31,  and  also  in  Lev.  23:  32;  Heb."a.  sabbath  of 
a  great  sabbath." 

Since  then,  this  is  the  usage  of  the  Old  Testament,  it  was 
natural  and  proper  that  in  the  New  Testament  t?ie  rest  of  Christ 
from  his  atoning  work  of  human  redemption  should  be  called 
the  "Lord's  day,"  and  should  be  observed  as  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, or  rest-day.    Rev.  1:  10;  Acts  20:  6,  7;  1  Cor.  16:  2. 

It  is  also  noteworthy  that  in  this  narrative  of  the  six  days 
of  the  creation  (commencing  with  ch.  1:  1,  and  extending  to 
ch.  2:  3),  each  paragraph  closes  with  the  repeated  declaration 
"that  there  was  evening  and  there  was  morning  the  first  day," 
"the  second,"  "the  third,"  and  so  on  to  the  "sixth."  But  the 
seventh  day,  the  day  of  the  Divine  rest,  has  no  such  conclusion; 
which  many  think  is  intended  to  teach  us  tJiat  his  rest  still  con- 
tinues; and  this  rest  of  the  Creator  will  last  until  the  epoch  of  the 
"New  Creation,"  whose  glories  and  other  wonders  will  utterly 
eclipse  all  the  glories  of  the  first.  Matt.  19:  28;  Rom.  8:  18—25; 
Eph.  2:  7;  1  Pet.  1:  5,  7,  13;  2  Pet.  3:  13;  Rev.  21:  1—5.  [In  De- 
litzsch's  translation  of  the  Greek  Testament  into  Hebrew  (which 
gives  us  the  nearest  representation  we  can  have  of  the  words  our 
Saviour  actually  used),  Matt.  19:  28  is  rendered:  "in  the  new 
CREATION,  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  his 
glory;"  being  seated,  till  then,  on  his  Father's  throne,  as  he  says 
in  Rev.  3:  21.— Tr.] 

Hardly  had  the  work  of  creation  been  finished,  when,  by  the 
artifice  and  malice  of  Satan  man  fell  into  apostasy  and  ruin*, 
giving  occasion  to  the  divine  work  of  redemption,  which  still  con- 

♦There  is  a  profound  and  impenetrable  mystery  involved  in  the  ruin  and 
redemption  of  this  world,  which  only  the  revelations  of  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment (when  Satan  and  his  angels,  as  well  as  all  mankind,  are  to  be 
judged)  will  suffice  to  explain.  The  reader  may  perhaps  find  a  clew  to  it 
in  Luke  3:3.  It  is  as  easy  as  it  is  common  to  say  that  this  claim  of 
Satan  was  "an  impudent  falsehood"  ;  but  had  there  been  no  foundation 
in  fact  for  it,  asserted  as  it  was  before  Christ  himself  in  his  temptation, 
it  does  not  seem  possible  that  Jesus  would  or  could  have  allowed  it  to 
pass  unchallenged.  Yet  he  was  so  far  from  stamping  it  as  a  falsehood, 
that  three  times  over  he  himself  calls  Satan  "the  prince  of  this  world" 
(Or.  kosmos,  John  12  :  31  ;  14  :  30  :  16  :  11)  ;  Paul  once  calls  him  "the  god 
of  this  icorld"  (Or.  age,—  or  present  disordered  state  of  the  kosmos  j  2 
Cor.  4:3);  and  he  says  furthermore  that  "our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  gdoe  Mm- 


CHAPTER  2:  1—3  23 

tinues,  and  fills  the  pages  of  the  Bible  from  the  3rd  chapter  of 
Genesis  to  the  20th  of  Revelation.  This  work  of  redemption  cor- 
responds temporally  with  God's  rest  from  his  work  of  creation; 
and  the  two  will  end  together  in  the  work  a  thousand  times 
greater,  of  "the  New  Creation,"  which  angels  yonder  in  heaven, 
together  with  the  material  creation,  cursed  for  man's  sake,  the 
saints  in  glory,  and  Christians  who  know  "the  hope  of  their 
calling,"  and  Jesus  Christ  himself  together  with  them  (Heb. 
10:  13),  wait  for  with  longing  desire.  1  Pet.  1:  12,  13;  2  Pet. 
3:  13;  Rom.  8:  19 — 23.  Paul,  in  heaven,  no  longer  "groans,"  but  is 
still  "waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  his 
hody"    Compare  Luke  20:  35,  36. 

[Note  5. — On  the  observance  of  the  seventh  day  of  the  loeek. 
Before  there  was  sin  and  death  in  the  world,  God  ordained  the 
observance  of  the  seventh  day  as  a  weekly  rest,  or  sabbath. 
"He  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanctified  (or  hallowed)  it." 
The  statement  in  Gen.  2:  3  does  not  mean  anything  different 
from  what  is  required  in  the  fourth  commandment  of  the  Deca- 
logue in  Ex.  20:  8,  which  says  "Remember  the  sabbath  day  (=rest- 
day)  to  keep  it  holy"  (=:"sanctify"  it) — a  change  of  translation 
merely.  There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt,  then,  that  God  or- 
dained that  it  should  be  observed  and  kept  both  before  and  after 
the  fall,  and  that  it  is  his  law  for  all  the  nations  of  the  world. 

The  observance  of  the  seventh  day  was  ordained  in  commemora- 
tion of  the  work  of  creation.  But  scarcely  had  God  concluded  the 
work,  and  hardly  had  he  ordained  its  commemoration,  when,  by 
the  artifice  of  Satan,  the  world  fell  into  apostasy  and  ruin;  and 
from  then  till  now  little  enoiigh  is  the  glory  ^chich  God  has  got 
from  that  his  work  of  the  first  creation.  Without  the  purpose 
and  the  work  of  "the  New  Creation,"  commenced  in  the  person  of 
Christ  himself,  when  he  arose  from  among  the  dead  to  immor- 
tality and  life,  after  that  he  had  made  the  atonement  for  our 
sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  which  he  will  finish  "in  the  regenera- 
tion (=the  new  creation),  ichen  the  Son  of  Man  shall  sit  upoji 
the  throne  of  his  glory''  (Matt.  19:  28),  the  first  creation  would 
have  served  only  for  the  eternal  reproach  and  dishonor  of  the 
Creator,  and  little  worthy  xoould  it  have  been  of  any  commem- 
oration at  all.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  this  is  a  thousand 
times  more  worthy  than  that  of  its  commemoration,  which  the 
self  for  us,  that  he  might  deliver  us  from  this  present  evil  icorld  (Or.  age), 
according  to  the  will  of  our  God  and  Father.  Gal.  1  :  4.  When  that  mys- 
tery is  solved,  we  shall  doubtless  clearly  see  that  the  end  to  be  accom- 
plished was  not  disproportionate  to  the  inflnite  price  paid  for  the  world's 
redemption  from  the  thraldom  of  Satan.  Had  almighty  tower  sufBced 
to  effect  this,  no  "blood  divine"  would  ever  have  been  shed  for  it. — Tr. 


24  GENESIS 

apostles  instituted  in  the  name  of  Christ  himself  (Rev.  1:  10), 
and  which,  with  very  rare  exceptions,  the  whole  Christian  world 
has  observed,  observes  and  until  the  end  of  the  Age  will  continue 
to  observe  in  weekly  commemoration  of  the  resurrection  of  him 
whom  God  has  made  the  eternal  life  of  men.  John  20:  19,  26, 
taken  together  with  Rev.  1:  10;  1  Cor.  16:  2  and  Acts  20:  6,  7, 
manifests  that  from  the  beginning  the  apostles  observed  the  first 
day  of  the  week  as  "the  Lord's  Day"=:the  Day  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
The  last  citation  (Acts  20:  6,  7)  is  particularly  strong;  for  it 
puts  in  boldest  relief  the  circumstance  that  Paul  and  his  com- 
panions ^'remained  seven  days"  in  Troas;  but  without  making 
any  special  account  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  they  chose  "the  first 
day  of  the  week"  for  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Supper  and  the 
most  solemn  preaching  of  the  word.] 


CHAPTER  IL 

VRS.    4 — 6.     ANOTHER  COMPENDIOUS  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  WORK  OF  CREATION. 

4  These  are  the  generations  of  the  heavens  and  of  the  earth 
when  they  were  created,  in  the  day  that  Jehovah  God  made  earth 
and  heaven. 

5  And  no  plant  of  the  field  was  yet  in  the  earth,  and  no  herb 
of  the  field  had  yet  sprung  up ;  for  Jehovah  God  had  not  caused  it 
to  rain  upon  the  earth  :  and  there  was  not  a  man  to  till  the  ground  ; 

G  but  there  went  up  a  mist  from  the  earth,  and  watered  the  whole 
face  of  the  ground. 

Some  interpreters  understand  the  phrase  with  which  this 
paragraph  begins,  as  referring  to  the  preceding  section  (ch.  1, 
2:  3);  and  so  Amat  translates  it,  "Such  was  the  origin  of  the 
heaven  and  the  earth."  But  the  identical  phrase  occurs  eleven 
times  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  and  three  times  more  in  the  rest 
of  the  Bible;  and  each  time  as  the  beginning  of  a  new  para- 
graph, with  reference  to  what  follows,  and  not  to  what  pre- 
cedes. Ch.  2:4;  5:1;  6:9;  10:1;  11:10,  27;  25:12,  19;  36:1, 
9;  37:2;  Num.  3:1;  Ruth  4:18;  1  Chron.  1:29.  It  is  there- 
fore probable  and  even  certain,  that  in  this  case,  as  in  the 
other  thirteen,  the  phrase  "these  are  the  generations"  does  not 
refer  to  the  preceding  relation  (however  much  it  may  look  like 
it  here),  but  to  what  follows,  and  that  it  introduces  a  new  subject 
■ — another  compendious  account  of  the  work  of  creation;  as  if  it 
were  said:  "These,  which  follow,  are  the  memoir?  [Heb.  genera- 
tions) of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  when  they  were  created." 
The  word  "generations"  in  vr.  4  has  no  such  sense  In  Spanish  or 
English  as  will  agree  with  "heavens  and  earth";  but  its  ordinary 


CHAPTER   2:  4—6  25 

use  in  the  passages  cited,  and  notably  in  eh.  37:  2  (in  which  noth- 
ing whatever  is  said  about  genealogies),  is  equivalent  to 
"memoirs,''  or  family  history;  it  being  usual  in  the  ancient  times 
to  associate  the  family  history  with  its  genealogical  descent. 

I  take  for  granted,  then,  that  vrs.  4 — 6  are  not  the  continua- 
tion, or  a  compend,  of  the  preceding  relation,  but  begin  a  new 
division  of  the  book  of  Genesis,  which  extends  to  the  end  of  the 
third  chapter,  and  includes  the  creation  in  general,  the  creation 
of  man,  paradise,  the  creation  of  woman,  the  temptation  and  fall 
of  man,  the  curse  on  account  of  his  sin,  together  with  the  first 
promise,  and  the  expulsion  of  our  first  parents  from  paradise. 

The  use  of  the  word  "day"  in  this  fragment  is  interesting, 
since  it  embraces  the  entire  extension  of  what  in  the  previous 
relation  is  distributed  among  six  days;  and  by  such  use  of 
the  word,  the  writer  himself  authorizes  us  to  understand  it  in 
ch.  1:  1 — 2:  3  with  the  same  breadth  of  meaning,  as  signifying 
not  days  of  twenty-four  hours,  but  epochs,  or  periods  of  in- 
definite duration,  yet  characterized  by  particular  facts  or  cir- 
cumstances. 

The  condition  of  things  which  is  presented  to  us  in  vr.  5 
is  certainly  hard  to  comprehend, — an  epoch  in  which  no  shrub 
or  plant  of  the  field  was  yet  in  the  ground;  in  which  God  had 
not  yet  made  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth;  before  there  was  any 
man  on  the  earth;  and  when,  for  the  lack  of  rain,  dense  mists 
watered  all  the  face  of  the  ground.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Moses 
(as  it  happened  with  other  prophets  after  him,  1  Pet.  1:  10,  11), 
introduces  here  into  his  narrative  a  seeming  fragment,  which 
probably  neither  he  nor  any  one  else  among  the  ancients  were 
capable  of  explaining,  and  the  meaning  of  which  the  discoveries 
of  modern  science,  within  the  last  hundred  years,  have  only  be- 
gun to  reveal  to  us,  by  bringing  to  our  knowledge  the  real  facts 
of  the  case.  The  words  seem  to  point  to  those  extremely  remote 
geological  ages,  during  which  there  was  in  fact  no  man,  nor 
trees,  nor  plants,  such  as  we  now  Ivnow;  when  in  an  opaque 
light,  in  the  midst  of  a  densely  humid  atmosphere,  of  excessive 
heat  and  perpetual  mists,  which  excluded  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
there  began  that  luxuriant  and  most  abundant  vegetation,  of  low 
types,  which  formed  the  vegetable  mould  of  the  earth,  and  which 
the  beneficent  hand  of  Divine  Providence  was  converting  into  in- 
exhaustible mines  of  mineral  coal  for  the  future  use  of  man. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  difficulties  of  this  fragment  (vr. 
4 — 6),  the  passage  seems  to  unanswerably  refute  the  allegation  of 
a  creation  effected  in  six  natural  days;  because,  in  the  midst  of 
much  that  is  incomprehensible,  it  speaks  of  a  period  (and  by  im- 


26  GENESIS 

plication  a  long  period)  anterior  to  the  creation  of  man,  in  which 
it  had  not  yet  rained,  and  instead  of  rain  an  abundant  and  dense 
mist  went  up  from  the  earth  which  watered  the  whole  face  of  the 
ground.  Now  then,  it  is  certain  that  God  made  the  earth  to  arise 
out  of  the  midst  of  the  waters  on  "the  third  day,"  and  on  "the 
sixth  day"  man  was  created.  It  is  most  evident,  therefore,  that 
if  these  had  been  days  of  twenty-four  hours,  the  soil  would  have 
been  wet  enough  without  any  further  need  of  either  rain  or  mists 
for  a  very  long  time.  But  according  to  this  passage,  during  that 
epoch  mists  supplied  the  lack  of  rain. 

[Note  6. — On  the  patriarchal  traditions  and  the  documents 
of  ivhich  Moses  may  have  availed  himself  in  the  composition  of 
this  hook.  Some  suppose  that  the  inspiration  of  Moses  implies  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  revealed  to  him  the  facts  which  he  relates,  be- 
sides guiding  him  in  the  arrangement  and  writing  of  them. 
Such  a  supposition  is  not  only  incredible  in  itself,  but  sins  griev- 
ously against  that  principle  of  the  economy  of  supernatural  power 
which  we  observe  always  in  the  Bible;  viz.,  that  of  not  doing 
ty  divine  power  what  man  is  well  capable  of  doing  for  himself. 
Luke  informs  us  in  the  introduction  to  his  Gospel  (ch.  1:  2,  3), 
that  before  setting  about  to  write  it,  he  "had  accurately  traced  the 
course  of  things  from  the  first,"  applying  for  information,  no 
doubt,  to  those  who  had  been  eye-witnesses  of  what  he  was  about 
to  relate.  In  the  first  ages  of  the  world,  before  the  art  of  writing 
and  the  composition  of  books,  histories  and  stores  of  useful 
knowledge  were  preserved  by  means  of  oral  tradition,  which 
was  in  many  cases  verbal  as  well.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
long  poems  of  Homer  were  by  this  means  preserved  and  propa- 
gated textually,  during  many  ages,  before  they  were  committed 
to  writing.  In  the  days  before  the  Flood,  when  men  lived  almost 
a  thousand  years,  this  would  be  easier  still,  and  the  trust- 
worthy communication  of  historical  facts  from  fathers  to  chil- 
dren was  better  attested  and  was  more  reliable  than  happens 
oftentimes  in  our  days  of  printing,  when  it  is  as  easy  to  dissem- 
inate and  preserve  falsehood  as  truth.  According  to  the  common 
chronology,  Adam  lived  contemporaneously  with  Methuselah  for 
243  years;  and  Methuselah  with  Noah  for  600  years.  Noah  died 
two  years  before  the  birth  of  Abraham;  and  Shem,  Noah's  son 
and  companion  in  the  ark,  was  contemporary  with  Abraham  for 
150  years.  Overlapping  each  other  in  this  way,  as  did  the  lives 
of  the  patriarchs,  and  giving  each  other  the  hand,  so  to  speak,  for 
tho  communication  of  historical  facts,  there  were  not  more  than 
four  steps  to  take  between  Abraham,  "the  father  of  believing 
men,"  and  Adam,  the  father  of  the  human  race:     Abraham,  Shem 


CHAPTER  2:  4— C  27 

Noah,  Methuselah,  Adam.  (See  l^ote  13  on  the  longevity  of 
the  antediluvian  patriarchs.)  It  is  scarcely  possible,  therefore, 
that  Abraham  should  have  failed  to  have  direct  and  trustworthy 
information  of  much  that  is  related  in  the  first  eleven  chapters  of 
Genesis;  and  equally  impossible  that  this  information,  or  much 
of  it,  should  not  reach  to  the  times  of  Moses,  in  a  straight  and  un- 
broken line:  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Levi,  Kohath,  Amram,  Moses. 

At  one  time  the  rationalists  who  deny  that  Moses  was  the 
author  of  the  books  that  bear  his  name,  had  the  characteristic 
valor  to  say  roundly  that  the  art  of  writing  was  not  known 
in  the  days  of  Moses;  without  imagining  that  the  "monu- 
ments" of  Egypt  and  of  Babylon  were  in  a  little  while  to  be 
published  to  the  civilized  world,  and  prove  that  in  those  coun- 
tries, the  art  of  writing,  and  even  of  engraving  historical  docu- 
ments on  stone,  was  known  and  practised  many  years  before 
Moses  and  Abraham.  In  Babylon  there  have  been  deciphered 
Babylonian  accounts,  on  tablets  or  cylinders  of  baked  clay,  of  the 
creation  of  man  and  the  institution  of  the  rest  of  the  seventh  day, 
of  the  temptation  and  fall  of  man,  of  the  deluge,  etc.,  which,  for 
substance,  are  very  much  like  the  accounts  we  find  in  the  Bible. 
It  is  therefore  altogether  probable  that  Moses  had  at  hand  not 
only  many  particular  traditions,  but  perhaps  some  documents  of 
the  greatest  interest  and  importance,  which  he  may  have  incor- 
porated with  his  history;  the  Spirit  of  inspiration  that  guided 
him,  vouching  for  the  accuracy  of  all  that  he  may  have  so 
admitted. 

The  first  section  of  the  book,  with  its  narrative  of  the  creation 
(ch.  1 — 2:  3),  may  have  been  of  this  nature, — a  verbal  or  per- 
haps a  written  tradition,  already  old  in  the  days  of  Moses.  The 
second  section  of  the  book  (ch.  2:  4 — ch.  3:  24)  bears  indications 
of  having  been  a  document,  or  special  history.  In  the  first  sec- 
tion,  the  Supreme  Being  is  called  always  and  only  "God";  in  the 
second,  he  is  called  always  and  only  "Jehovah  God,"  except  in  the 
interview  between  the  Serpent  and  the  Woman.  So  far  as  I  can 
ascertain,  "Jehovah  God,"  as  a  designation  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
does  not  again  occur  in  the  writings  of  Moses  (except  in  Ex. 
9:30);  for  "Jehovah,  God  of  Shem,"  of  "Abraham,"  etc.,  is  a 
different  matter.  And  I  do  not  find  it  any  more  in  the  Bible,  ex- 
cept in  Ps.  80  and  in  the  prophecy  of  Amos.  The  history  of  the 
Deluge  and  of  the  tower  of  Babylon  may  belong  to  the  same 
class,  without  detracting  anything  from  the  prophetical  character 
and  inspiration  of  Moses.] 

It  is  also  worth  our  while  to  note  in  passing  the  absolute 
negation  which  in  this  passage  is  made  of  the  existence  of  any 


28  GENESIS 

man  in  the  earth  prior  to  Adam:  "And  there  was  no  man  to  tiU 
the  ground." 

2:  7 — 14.       A    MORE    CIRCUMSTANTIAL    NARRATIVE    OF    THE    CREATION 
OF    MAN.      THE    GARDEN    OF    EDEN. 

(4004  B.  c.     According  to  the  LXX,  5503;   Hales  5411.) 

7  And  Jehovah  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life;  and  man  became  a 
living  soul. 

8  And  Jehovah  God  planted  a  garden  eastward,*  in  Eden :  and 
there  he  put  the  man  whom  he  had  formed. 

9  And  out  of  the  ground  made  Jehovah  God  to  grow  every  tree 
that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food ;  the  tree  of  life  also 
in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil. 

10  And  a  river  went  out  of  Eden  to  water  the  garden,  and  from 
thence  it  was  parted,  and  became  four  heads. 

11  The  name  of  the  first  is  Pishon  :  that  is  it  which  compasseth 
the  whole  land  of  Havilah,  where  there  is  gold  ; 

12  And  the  gold  of  that  laud  is  good :  there  is  bdellium  and  the 
onyx  stone. 

13  And  the  name  of  the  second  river  is  Gihon :  the  same  is  it 
that  compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Gush. 

14  And  the  name  of  tha  third  river  is  Hiddekel  :t  that  is  it 
which  goeth  in  front  of  Assyria.  And  the  fourth  river  is  the 
Euphrates. 

[*0);  of  old  time.]  Yl'liat  is,  Tigris. 

The  sacred  writer  having  referred  to  a  period  when  there 
was  no  man  in  the  earth,  proceeds  now  to  relate  how  Jehovah 
created  him.  The  Bible  contains  several  very  clear  and  explicit 
allusions  to  what  vr.  7  declares  in  the  most  positive  manner;  to 
wit,  that  the  first  man  was  formed  of  the  dust  (or  clay)  of  the 
ground;  as  in  ch.  3:  19;  Ps.  90:  3;  Eccl.  12:  7;  1  Cor.  15:  47,  48, 
49.  And  Moses  in  this  place  affirms  in  the  most  emphatic 
manner  that  this  dust  or  clay,  wrought  into  human  form,  had 
neither  respiration  nor  semblance  of  life,  until  "Jehovah  God 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,"  when  man  came  to 
be  what  birds,  and  reptiles  and  fishes  and  quadrupeds  had  been 
before  him,  to  wit,  "a  living  soul."  See  Note  4,  on  "living 
souls,"  page  15.  This  is  what  Moses  in  the  Hebrew  text  (which 
the  Modern  Spanish  Version  exactly  follows)  affirms,  and  the 
science  best  deserving  of  the  name  reaffirms;  and  it  goes  to 
show  that  the  contention  of  evolutionists,  that  the  human  race 
was  descended  from  a  line  of  bestial  progenitors,  is  altogether 
lacking  in  solid  basis.  When  Luke  is  giving,  in  ch.  3  of  his  Gos- 
pel, the  genealogy  or  descent  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  according 
to  the  flesh,  tracing  it  backward  to  its  source,  he  comes  in  vr.  37 
to  Methuselah,  and  continues  thus:  "Methuselah,  who  was  the 
son  of  Enoch,  who  was  the  son  of  Jared,  who  was  the  son  of 


CHAPTER  2:  7—14  29 

Enosh,  who  was  the  son  of  Seth,  who  was  the  son  of  Adam,  who 
was  the  son  of"  ...  Of  whom  shall  we  say?  "Of  a  four- 
handed  beast  ("quadrumana"),  of  the  limurian  or  monkey 
family,"  answers  the  evolutionist.  But  Luke,  by  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  affirms — "who  was  the  son  of  Seth,  who  was 
the  son  of  Adam,  who  was  the  son  of  God."  How  deep  must  be 
the  native  antipathy  of  the  human  heart  to  God  and  to  godliness, 
when  men  of  the  highest  scientific  standing  would  some  of  them 
PEEFER  to  expunge  the  words  "who  was  the  son  of  God,"  and 
write  instead,  "who  was  the  son  of  an  anthropoid  ape!" 

In  preparation  for  the  advent  of  this  man,  so  highly  privileged, 
"the  image  and  likeness,"  not  of  a  beast,  but  of  his  Maker,  God 
had  already  provided  for  him  a  place  of  delicious  habitation, 
the  Garden  of  Eden.  Eden  was  not  the  Garden,  but  the  country 
or  district  in  which  the  Garden  was  located,  in  the  eastern  part 
of  which  was  situated  this  earthly  paradise.  Instead  of  to  the 
"eastern  part,"  which  has  for  us  no  particular  signification,  some 
prefer  the  equally  legitimate  sense,  "of  old,"  or  "of  ancient 
time";  giving  us  to  understand,  that  God  for  a  long  time  past 
had  been  preparing  a  place  for  man.  The  word  "paradise"  is 
Persian,  and  is  only  used  three  times  in  the  Bible,  and  that  only 
in  the  New  Testament,  as  a  designation  of  the  heaven  of  the  peo- 
ple of  God,  both  in  death  and  in  the  resurrection.  Luke  23:  43; 
2  Cor.  12:  2 — 4;  Rev.  2:  7.  Ezekiel  speaks  several  times  poetically 
of  "Eden,  the  garden  of  God"  (ch.  28:  13;  31:  9,  16,  18).  Isaiah 
(eh.  51:  3)  and  Joel  (ch.  2:  3)  also  use  "Eden"  as  a  term  of  com- 
parison, with  allusion  to  this  garden  of  delights.  There,  with  an 
abundant  provision  of  natural  food  and  of  fruits  and  flowers,  in 
innocence  and  highly  favored  with  the  daily  company  of  God, 
without  the  need  of  other  clothing  than  the  "robe  of  righteous- 
ness" and  the  "beauty  of  holiness,"  with  no  consciousness  of 
shame,  and  without  the  need  of  any  other  domicil  than  the  shelter 
of  the  dense  boughs,  or  some  fresh  grotto,  the  human  race  began 
its  existence.  Two  trees  in  particular  call  our  attention  at  the 
outset:  "the  tree  of  life,"  which  in  ch.  3:24  disappears  from  our 
sight,  when  man  lost  the  right  to  its  use,  to  present  itself  anew 
at  the  end  of  the  human  redemption,  when  through  Jesus  Christ 
he  has  recovered  "the  right  to  the  tree  of  life"  (Rev.  22:2,  14; 
2:7);  and  "the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,"  which 
has  cost  Adam  and  his  posterity  so  dear. 

It  is  possible  or  probable  that  the  Deluge  of  Noah  caused 
very  great  alterations  in  the  configuration  and  topography  of 
those  countries;  but  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  {Heb.  Hiddekel) 
of  vr.  14,  are  undoubtedly  the  same  rivers  which  in  ancient  and 


30  GENESIS 

modern  times  bear  these  names;  and  it  seems  probable  that 
Eden,  with  its  garden,  was  situated  near  the  confluence  of 
these  rivers,  which  at  that  time  was  very  close  to  the  Persian 
Gulf,  if  not,  in  fact,  at  the  point  where  they  emptied  into  it.  The 
other  two,  if  they  were  in  fact  "rivers,"  must  have  been  lost  in 
the  time  of  the  Deluge.  But  it  is  the  opinion  of  many  interpreters 
that  the  word  "river"  is  here  used  in  the  sense  of  the  Spanish 
"ribera,"  and  means  a  "shore,"  whether  it  be  of  the  sea  or  of 
some  river — a  sense  which  it  has  in  several  passages  of  the 
ancient  classics — to  indicate  the  coasts  of  the  Persian  Gulf;  which 
near  the  union  of  these  two  rivers  take  the  one  towards  India, 
with  its  great  river,  the  Indus,  and  the  other  towards  Africa,' 
with  its  great  river,  the  Nile.  In  those  remote  times,  when  the 
knowledge  of  geography  was  very  limited,  and  maps  did  not  yet 
exist,  there  would  naturally  be  much  confusion  in  matters  of  this 
kind. 

Others  suppose  that  Eden  with  its  paradise  was  on  the  high 
lands  of  Armenia,  where  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris  have 
their  source,  and  that  its  climate  has  changed  greatly  since  that 
time.  See  Conant  on  Gen.  2:  10 — 14.  But  the  other  is  the 
ordinary  opinion. 

2:  15 — 17.      THE   TEIAi  OF    MAN.       (4004    B.    C.) 

15  And  Jehovah  God  took  the  man,  and  put  him  into  the  garden 
of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  keep  it. 

16  And  Jehovah  God  commanded  the  man,  saying,  Of  every  tree 
of  the  garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat : 

17  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt 
not  eat  of  it :  for  in  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt 
surely  die. 

Even  in  paradise  was  found  the  law  of  labor.  Man  was  not 
placed  in  the  garden  of  Eden  to  live  a  self-indulgent  and  in- 
dolent life,  but  "to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it."  And  as  God  had 
from  the  beginning  "blessed  the  seventh  day  and  hallowed — 
or  sanctified — it"  (vr.  3,  that  is,  set  it  apart  from  a  common  to  a 
sacred  use),  it  is  a  good  and  legitimate  inference  that  there,  in 
Eden,  and  before  there  was  sin  in  the  world,  or  death,  man  was 
expected  to  observe  the  rule  of  working  six  days  and  observing  a 
holy  rest  on  the  seventh;  a  rule  which  has  given  such  beneficent 
results  in  the  Christian  lands  which  observe  it. 

Of  all  the  trees  of  Eden,  including  the  tree  of  life,  man  might 
freely  eat,  with  but  the  single  exception  of  "the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil."  On  the  tree  of  life,  see  the  com- 
ment on  ch.  3:  22.  It  is  enough  to  say  here  that  since  man  had 
full  right  and  liberty  to  eat  of  this  tree  every  day,  it  seems  evi- 


CHAPTER   2:  15—17  31 

dent  that  its  special  virtue  to  give  life  did  not  consist  in  his  eat- 
ing of  it  once,  nor  twice  (for  Adam  and  Eve  must  often  have 
eaten  thereof),  but  in  eating  of  it  constantly,  and  in  "having  a 
right  to  the  tree  of  life."    Rev.  22:  14. 

"The  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,"  from  the  use 
of  which  he  was  to  abstain  under  penalty  of  death,  some  sup- 
pose to  have  been  a  tree  that  was  naturally  poisonous;  for 
which  cause  God  admonished  him  not  to  touch  it.  But  it  is 
morally  impossible  that  God  should  have  placed  a  poisonous  tree 
in  paradise.  It  is  rather  to  be  supposed  that  the  tree  was  in  itself 
good,  and  that  any  other  tree  of  paradise  would  have  had  the 
same  name  and  effect,  if  God  had  forbidden  its  use.  Man  knew 
the  good,  but  he  did  not  know  it  thoroughly,  because  he  did  not 
know  its  opposite.  There  is  therefore  this  biting  irony  in  the 
words  of  the  Serpent:  That  by  eating  of  this  tree,  he  would 
know  the  good,  by  his  loss  of  it;  and  he  would  know  the  evil,  by 
his  own  experience  of  it.  The  distinction,  therefore,  of  good 
and  evil  he  did  not  know,  because  he  had  no  conception  of  what 
evil  was.     But 

"Where  ignorance  is  bliss,  'tis  folly  to  be  wise." 

It  seems  evident,  also,  that  the  angels,  each  for  himself,  had. 
after  his  creation,  to  pass  through  a  period  of  probation;  and 
that  some  of  them  fell  from  their  original  estate,  and  now  form 
the  "kingdom  of  darkness,"  under  Satan  their  king,  in  antag- 
onism with  the  "kingdom  of  God";  while  those  who  remained 
faithful  were  confirmed  in  holiness  and  glory  (2  Pet.  2:  4; 
Jude  vr.  6),  and  are  called  by  Paul  the  "elect  angels,"  1  Tim. 
5:  21.  It  seems  probable  that  the  possession  of  personality,  in- 
telligence and  free-will  makes  it  necessary  that  every  rational 
being  should  have  to  pass  through  such  a  trial,  either  in  his 
own  person,  or  in  that  of  his  representative;  as  we  passed  ours 
in  our  first  father  Adam.  From  the  operation  of  this  rule  not 
even  the  eternal  Son  of  God  could  be  exempted,  when  he  be- 
came man.  Matt.  4:1;  Heb.  2:  10,  18;  5:8.  It  is  possible  that 
the  trial  of  a  self-propagating  race,  where  the  individual  mem- 
bers of  it  are  born  incapable  of  doing  anything,  and  their  char- 
acter and  destiny  are  determined  principally  by  the  teaching, 
example  and  training  of  their  parents — it  is  possible, — I  say 
more,  it  is  even  probable,  that  only  as  a  race  could  its  trial  be 
equitably  made.  In  any  case,  it  is  certain  that  God,  who 
loves  us  better  than  we  love  our  children  (John  3:  16 — 18;  Rom. 
8:  32),  who  could  not  err  in  his  infinitely  wise  counsels,  and 
being  himself  the  infinite  Reason,  could  not  act  arbitrarily,  chose 


32  GENESIS 

that  it  should  he  so,  and  deposited  in  the  hands  of  our  first 
father  the  character  and  destiny  of  his  posterity,  together  with 
his  own.  We  readily  believe  that  as  this  was  the  counsel  and 
purpose  of  God,  and  as  the  sin  of  mankind  was  to  cost  him  the 
sacrifice  of  his  beloved  and  only-begotten  Son  (John  3:  16,  17), 
this  was  the  most  just  and  reasonable  trial  that  the  case  admitted 
of,  and  that  it  was  verified  under  the  conditions  most  favorable 
for  us;  for  while  it  is  certain  that,  if  Adam  fell  into  apostasy  and 
ruin,  all  his  posterity  would  fall  with  him;  it  is  not  less  certain, 
that  if  he  had  preserved  his  primitive  integrity,  by  keeping  the 
covenant  of  his  God,  during  the  limited  time  of  such  trial,  he 
would  have  been  confirmed  in  the  righteousness  and  true  holiness 
in  which  he  was  created,  and  his  posterity  would  participate  in 
the  same  happy  condition,  as  their  inalienable  patrimony.  All 
Christians  understand,  with  little  variation,  that  such  was  the 
relation  which  Adam  bore  to  his  posterity;  and  for  this  cause  we 
call  this  transaction  a  "covenant";  because  results  of  such  tran- 
scendent importance,  embracing  the  welfare  or  the  ruin  of 
innumerable  human  beings,  could  not  have  been  left  to  chance, 
nor  to  the  natural  laws  of  hereditary  descent.  See  Note  7,  on  the 
Covenant  made  with  Adam. 

It  is  also  to  be  supposed,  as  we  gather  from  the  condition  and 
transformation  of  the  just  who  are  alive  at  the  advent  in  glory 
of  Jesus  Christ  (who  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  will  be  trans- 
formed, without  dying,  into  the  physical  condition  of  the  dead 
raised  up  in  immortality  and  life,  in  power  and  glory,  John  21: 
23;  1  Cor.  15:  51,  52;  1  Thes.  4:  16,  17),  that  if  our  first  parents 
had  victoriously  resisted  the  subtleties  and  solicitations  of  the 
Tempter,  as  says  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  an  analogous  change 
would  have  passed  on  them,  and  that  their  descendants  would 
have  been  born  into  the  same  privileged  condition.  A  thousand 
times  better  this,  than  that  each  individual  of  the  race  should 
pass  through  the  trial  for  himself,  under  conditions  vastly  more 
unfavorable.  In  any  case,  we  accept  this  most  certain  maxim, 
that  whatever  our  God  does,  is,  and  must  forever  6e,  holy,  wise, 
just,  good,  and  fitting. 

It  will  be  important  to  add  at  this  point,  that  we  Evangelicals 
believe  that  when  Adam  violated  the  condition  of  life  and  in- 
curred the  penalty  of  death,  if  God  had  not  had  in  view  the  pur- 
pose of  redemption  for  us,  he  would  at  once  have  put  an  end  to 
the  race,  assigning  to  the  guilty  pair  their  part  with  the  angels 
who  sinned.  2  Pet.  2:  4.  We  do  not  believe,  nor  is  such  a 
thing  taught  in  Scripture,  that  God  would  have  left  the  chil- 
dren of  Adam  to  perish  for  this  his  sin,  without  their  active  partic- 


CHAPTER  2:  15—17  33 

ipation  in  his  apostasy.  We  further  believe  that  the  infant 
children  ivho  have  died  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  as 
they  participated  in  the  sin  and  fall  of  Adam,  without  act  or 
consent  of  their  own,  so  in  like  manner,  without  act  or  consent 
of  their  own,  they  are  saved  by  Christ,  through  the  operation 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  works  when,  where  and  how  he  pleases. 
So  that  the  propagation  of  a  lost  race  was  permitted  only  in 
view  of  the  prospective  work  of  the  redemption  of  Christ,  who, 
with  allusion  to  this,  is  called  "the  last  Adam"  (1  Cor.  15:  45), 
and  "the  Lamb  that  was  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world." 
Rev.  13:  8. 

[Note  7. — On  the  Covenant  made  with  Adam.  This  trans- 
action is  called  a  covenant  in  Hos.  6:7:  "Like  Adam  they^ 
have  transgressed  the  covenant."  R.  V.  So  then  it  has  the 
name  of  covenant  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  But  besides  this,  we 
so  designate  it — 

1st.  Because  the  penalty  and  the  promise,  as  also  the  tre- 
mendous consequences  involved  for  good  or  evil,  declare  that 
it  was  a  covenant.  Only  the  penalty  is  mentioned;  but  the  fail- 
ure to  mention  the  -promise  does  not  cause  any  one  to  doubt  that 
there  was  such  a  promise,  and  a  promise  of  eternal  life.  2nd. 
Because  all  the  great  transactions  of  God  with  his  people,  and 
with  regard  to  his  people,  have  been  always  by  way  of  cove- 
nant. 3rd.  The  remedy  of  our  evil,  through  the  Second  Adam, 
is  precisely  by  way  of  covenant,  as  the  Scriptures  many  times 
declare.  Paul,  in  that  parallel  which  he  traces  in  Rom.  5:  12 — 19, 
between  Adam  and  Christ,  between  the  man  who  damned  the 
world  and  the  divine  man  who  saves  the  world — between  him 
who  lost  all  his  race,  and  him  who  saves  all  of  his — says  nothing 
about  a  covenant;  but  it  would  be  very  inconsistent  to  assume 
that  Paul  did  not  believe  in  the  covenant  of  redemption,  which  he 
so  extensively  treats  of  in  other  places  under  that  name.  Gal. 
4:  24;  Heb.  12:  24.  Well  then,  if  this  was  a  covenant,  the  agree- 
ment with  Adam  was  no  less  a  covenant. 

The  condition  of  the  covenant  was  that  of  perfect  obedience; 
the  express  prohibition  was  that  of  eating  of  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  Man  fell,  not  by  the  act  of  "eat- 1 , 
ing  an  apple,"  as  it  is  often  flippantly  said,  hut  by  the  act  of ,' 
sinning  against  God;  the  particular  act  of  disobedience  by  which 
he  sinned  and  so  fell,  being  that  of  eating  the  forbidden  fruit.  It 
is  important  to  observe  this  distinction.  Any  other  sin  that 
Adam  might  have  committed  would  undoubtedly  have  produced 
the  same  result;  but  as  it  was  morally  impossible  that  one  who 
was  holy,  and  loved  righteousness,  should  choose  to  do  what  was 


34  GENESIS 

wicked  in  itself,  and  abhorring  what  was  evil,  should  resolve  'o 
commit  it,  the  trial,  in  order  to  be  a  trial,  could  not  turn  on 
things  that  are  in  themselves  right  or  wrong,  hfut  on  something 
which  is  in  itself  of  indifferent  quality — precisely  like  the  act  of 
eating,  or  not  eating,  of  a  certain  tree  which  ffiod  had  fcrhidden 
him  to  use.  1 

The  penalty  of  the  violation  of  this  covenant  was  death;  a 
word  whose  full  significance  man  could  not  then  comprehend, 
nor  is  it  yet  given  to  us  to  penetrate  fully  its  meaning.  It  is 
very  important  to  observe  that  the  covenant  was  made  with 
Adam,  before  the  creation  of  Eve,  and  was  conditioned  on  his 
obedience,  and  not  on  Tiers.] 

2:  18 — 25.      THE   CREATION    OF   WOMAN.      MAERIAGE. 
(4004    B.    C.) 

18  And  Jehovah  God  said,  It  is  not  good  that  man  should  be 
alone ;  I  will  make  him  a  help  meet  for*  him. 

19  And  out  of  the  ground  Jehovah  God  formed  every  beast  of  the 
field,  and  every  bird  of  the  heavens ;  and  brought  them  unto  the 
man  to  see  what  he  would  call  them :  and  whatsoever  the  man  called 
every  living  creature,  that  was  the  name  thereof. 

20  And  the  man  gave  names  to  all  cattle,  and  to  the  birds  of  the 
heavens,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field ;  but  for  manf  there  was  not 
found  a  help  meet  for  him. 

21  And  Jehovah  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  the  man, 

22  and  the  rib,  which  Jehovah  God  had  taken  from  the  man,  made 
he  a  woman,  and  brought  her  unto  the  man. 

23  And  the  man  said,  This  is  nowt  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh 
of  my  flesh :  she  shall  be  called  Woman,  because  she  was  taken  out 
of  Man. 

24  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and 
shall   cleave  unto  his  wife :   and  they  shall  be  one   flesh. 

25  And  they  were  both  naked,  the  man  and  his  wife,  and  we?e 
not  ashamed. 

*0r,  answering  to  [—the  counterpart  and  completion  of  himself]. 

tOr,  Adam. 

ItHeb.  "this  time  (it  is)  bone,"  etc.] 

It  would  be  ignoring  the  genius  and  usage  of  the  Hebrew 
tongue  to  infer  from  vr.  19  that  God  made  to  pass  before  the 
man,  in  interminable  succession,  the  totality  of  the  animals  of 
the  field  and  of  the  fowls  of  heaven.  He  gained  his  object  by 
making  to  pass  before  him,  in  pairs,  all,  or  the  greater  part  of 
known  animals  and  birds.  As  they  passed  thus  before  him,  the 
man  gave  to  each  pair  its  proper  name.  A  circumstance  of 
great  importance  is  this,  and  makes  clearly  manifest  that  the 
gift  of  speech  was  natural  to  man;  that  he  was  not  a  savage,  nor 
a  half  brute,  who  slowly  acquired  the  possibility  of  communicat- 
ing with  his  fellows;  but  that  before  God  had  formed  his 
companion  Eve,  he  possessed  it  in  such  perfect  degree,  that  he 


CHAPTER  2:  18—25  35 

•nas  able  to  perform  the  extremely  difficult  office  of  giving  names 
to  all  the  animals. 

"While  Adam  thus  in  succession  designated  by  name  the  dif- 
ferent families  of  the  animal  creation,  he  could  not  fail  to  no- 
tice that  each  had  a  companion  meet  for  it,  and  that  he  was  the 
only  exception.  So  God,  as  is  his  wont,  made  him  to  have  a 
deep  sense  of  what  he  most  needed,  before  he  supplied  his  want. 
Causing  then  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  him,  he  took  from  his 
side  one  of  his  ribs,  and  made  it  into  a  woman,  and  presented 
lier  to  him  when  Adam  awoke.  It  is  a  very  significant  fact  that 
he  who  made  man  of  the  dust  should  have  made  woman  of  that 
dust  refined,  forming  her  out  of  a  part  of  man  himself.  The 
commentator  Matthew  Henry  says  "that  the  woman  was  formed 
out  of  man — not  out  of  his  head,  to  rule  over  him;  not  out  of 
his  feet,  to  be  trod  upon  by  him;  but  out  of  his  side,  to  be  his 
equal;  from  beneath  his  arm,  to  be  protected;  from  near  his 
heart,  to  be  loved." 

"A  help  meet  for  him"  means,  according  to  the  Hebrew, 
answering  or  corresponding  to  7izm=the  counterpart  and  com- 
pletion of  himself.  In  a  racial  sense,  the  two  halves  (cor- 
responding to  each  other)  make  one  whole.  "They  twain  shall  be 
one  flesh." 

Adam,  when  he  saw  her,  made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of 
himself  (1  Cor.  11:  7),  exclaimed,  with  allusion  to  the  former 
occasion,  when  successively  every  kind  of  animal  was  accom- 
panied by  its  mate:  "This  time  (Mod.  Span.  Vers.),  it  is  bone 
of  my  bones  and  flesh  of  my  flesh;  she  shall  be  called  woman,  be- 
cause out  of  man  was  she  taken."  The  Hebrew  words  for  "man 
and  woman"  are  "Ish  and  Isha,"  the  masculine  and  feminine 
forms  of  the  same  word. 

There  and  then  God  instituted  marriage — the  union  of  one 
man  and  one  woman  in  lasting  and  inviolable  hands.  See  Note 
24,  on  marriage,  in  comment  on  ch.  24:  67.  The  union  is  lasting 
while  it  remains  inviolate,  and  because  inviolable,  it  is  dis- 
solved by  being  violated.  Jesus  clearly  teaches  in  Matt.  19:  3 — 9, 
that  while  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  put  away  his  wife 
for  every  cause  and  take  another  in  her  stead  (as  the  Jews 
practiced  it,  and  as  is  the  use  in  Roman  Catholic  countries,  with 
the   vast   multitudes   called   in    Spanish  "amancebados"*)    never- 

*In  all  Roman  Catholic  countries — unless  R.  C.  Ireland,  under  Protes- 
tant rule,  be  an  exception — the  shameless  exactions  of  the  priests  in  the 
celebration  of  their  so-called  "sacrament  of  marriage"  (of  which  they 
have  the  complete  monopoly),  have  forced  an  incredible  proportion  of  the 
people  to  adopt  the  easy  expedient  of  "amanccbamicnto"  (self-constituted 
marriages   of  convenience)— jq  which    (in   Latin   America   certainly)    the 


36  GENESIS 

theless  "fornication" — a  word  which  frequently  is  used  in  the 
Bible  for  matrimonial  infidelity,  see  eh.  38:  24;  2  Kings  9:  22— 
forms  a  valid  and  legitimate  cause  for  so  doing.  Of  this  union 
of  the  sexes,  instituted  in  paradise,  Jesus  says:  "What  God  has 
joined  together  let  not  man  put  asunder"  (Mark  10:9);  and 
the  apostle  Paul  says:  "Because  of  fornications,  let  every  man 
have  his  oivn  ivife,  and  every  woman  have  her  own  husband." 
1  Cor.  7:  2. 

"Naked."  In  their  state  of  innocence,  modesty  did  not  re- 
quire clothing  as  a  covering  for  shame;  and  in  that  delicious 
climate  of  Eden  it  was  not  necessary  for  protection.  Of  God 
it  is  said:  "He  covered  himself  with  light  as  icith  a  garment" 
(Ps.  104:  2);  and  it  is  a  probable  opinion  that  in  paradise  their 
very  holiness  and  innocence  served  Adam  and  Eve  for  a  cover- 
ing; a  covering  of  which  they  divested  themselves  when  they 
sinned  against  God.  This  verse  bears  on  its  face  the  evidence 
of  being  true  history.  To  whom  but  God,  or  the  holy  angels, 
would  it  ever  have  occurred  to  say:  "And  they  were  both 
naked,  the  man  and  his  wife;  and  they  were  not  ashamed"? 
vr.  25. 

CHAPTER  III. 
VES.   1 — 7.     THE  TEMPTATION.     THE  FAXL.      (Of  Uncertain   date.) 

1  Now  the  serpent  wfis  more  snhtle  tlmn  any  beast  of  the  field 
which  Jehovnli  God  hnd  made.  And  he  said  unto  t!ie  woman,  Yea, 
hath  God  said.  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  any  tree  of  the  garden? 

2  And  the  woman  snid  unto  the  serpent,  Of  the  fruit  of  the  trees 
of  the  garden  we  may  eat : 

3  but  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  garden, 
God  hath  said.  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye  touch  it,  lest 
ye  die. 

priests  too  often  take  the  lead  ;  an  arrangement  which  lasts  only  so  long 
as  convenient,  when  the  union  is  dissolved  with  or  without  consent  of 
parties,  and  they  are  then  free  to  enter  into  new  arrangements  of  the 
same  sort.  El  Faro  (Mexico  City,  Feb.  15,  1904)  says  editorially  that 
in  some  of  the  States  of  that  Republic  "the  number  of  families  living  in 
this  immoral  way  is  seventy  per  cent."  Ancizar,  in  his  Pcregrinacion  de 
.Alpha,  mentions  district  after  district  in  the  Andine  region  of  Colombia 
S.  A.,  in  which  the  illegitimate  births  are  50  per  cent  and  upwards. 
Things  may  be  better  in  Roman  Catholic  Europe ;  yet  even  there,  in  many 
cities  they  average  from  one  third  to  one  half  of  the  total  population, 
and  sometimes  more  :  3S  per  cent  in  Paris  ;  35  in  Brussels ;  51  per  cent 
in  Vienna,  and  G5  in  Gratz.  See  Seymour's  Evenings  with  the  Romanists, 
Preliminary  Chapter  on  The  Moral  Results  of  the  Romish  System,  for 
the  official  figures.  Seventy-five  per  cent  is  said  to  be  a  common  average 
in  Venezuela ;  and  yet  many  American  Protestants  think  it  is  a  waste  of 
time  and  money,  and  "a  gratuitous  wrong  to  a  Christian  Church,"  to  send 
missionaries  to  Roman  Catholic  lands ! — Tr. 


CHAPTERS:!— 7  37 

4  And  the  serpent  said  unto  the  woman,  Ye  shall  not  surely 
die : 

5  for  God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  then  your 
eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye  shall  be  as  God,  knowing  good  and  evil. 

6  And  when  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food  and 
that  it  was  a  delight  to  the  eyes,  and  that  the  tree  was  to  be  desired 
to  make  one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof,  and  did  eat ;  and  she 
gave  also  unto  her  husband  with  her,*  and  he  did  eat. 

7  And  the  eyes  of  them  both  were  opened,  and  they  knew  that 
they  were  naked ;  and  they  sewed  fig-leaves  together,  and  made  them- 
selves aprons.t 

[*i/.  S.  r.,  ichcn  he  was  with  her.]      "{Or,  girdles. 

Paul  wrote  to  the  Corinthians  (2  Cor.  11:3):  "But  I  fear, 
lest  by  any  means,  as  the  serpent  beguiled  Eve  in  his  crafti- 
ness, your  minds  should  be  corrupted" — subtleties  of  Satan!  The 
very  same  in  both  cases  is  the  Serpent  whom  Paul  feared. 
Even  more  expressly  John  speaks  in  Rev.  12:  9  of  "that  old 
Serpent  that  is  called  the  Devil  and  Satan,  the  deceiver  of  the 
whole  world."  Satan,  therefore,  was  that  malignant  spirit, 
who,  under  the  form  of  a  serpent,  with  subtlety  deceived  the 
woman,  and  by  her  means  secured  the  fall  and  ruin  of  the 
man,  and  of  his  posterity.  The  woman  was  where  she  ought 
not  to  have  been,  near  to  the  forbidden  tree.  Satan  with 
malicious  banter  began  to  jeer  her  about  the  much  beautiful 
fruit  that  she  had  around  her,  of  none  of  which  she  was  per- 
mitted to  eat,  by  the  positive  prohibition  of  God.  Instead  of 
repelling  the  unworthy  and  God-dishonoring  suggestion,  which 
awakened  in  her  breast  doubts  of  his  pure  benevolence  and 
disinterested  love,  and  withdrawing  at  once  from  the  danger- 
ous presence  of  her  tempter,  the  woman  (like  multitudes  of 
her  tempted  daughters)  allowed  the  conversation,  and  went 
on  with  it,  until  that  happened  which  was  to  he  expected. 
Finding  her  communicative,  although  she  showed  that  she 
perfectly  understood  the  divine  command  not  to  eat  of  the 
fruit  of  that  tree,  nor  even  to  touch  it,  under  pain  of  death, 
the  tempter  went  further  and  denied  that  what  God  had  said 
was  true,  alleging  that,  instead  of  dying,  they  would  become 
like  God  himself,  having  their  eyes  opened  to  know  good  and 
evil;  insinuating  into  the  ear  of  the  woman,  already  half  dis- 
posed to  admit  the  blasphemous  imputation,  that  God,  en- 
vious of  their  happiness,  wished  to  deny  to  them  a  good  which 
he  himself  possessed.  Having  already  gained  so  much,  Satan 
pressed  the  siege,  until  the  woman,  desirous  now  of  satisfying 
"the    lust   of    the    eye,"    and    aspiring   to   wisdom,   where    igno- 


38  GENESIS 

ranee  was  bliss,  put  forth  her  hand  and  took  of  the  fruit  of  the 
tree,  and  ate,  and  fell  into  sin. 

It  seems  that  Satan  improved  the  opportunity  of  finding 
her  alone,  beneath  the  fatal  tree,  where  she  ought  never  to 
have  been.  Paul  says:  "Adam  was  not  deceived,  bilt  the 
woman  being  deceived  fell  into  transgression."  1  Tim.  2:  4. 
If  Adam  had  been  with  her,  it  is  to  be  supposed  that  Eve 
would  not  have  done  it;  but  having  already  yielded  to  tempta- 
tion, she  herself  seduced  her  husband  to  break  the  covenant 
by  his  fatal  act.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to  penetrate  the  mo- 
tives which  operated  with  Adam  to  do  with  his  eyes  wide 
open,  what  the  woman  had  done  "being  deceived."  The  poets 
have  imputed  to  him  as  his  motive  that  of  joining  his  fate 
with  that  of  his  beloved  Eve,  believing  her  to  be  already 
lost.  In  that  case,  the  temptation  was  to  choose  between  the 
homage  and  obedience  which  he  owed  to  God  and  the  tender 
love  he  felt  towards  the  woman, — fatal  temptation  which  still 
leads  many  to  their  eternal  ruin.  But  the  act  of  Eve  did 
not  cause  our  ruin;  perhaps,  being  herself  "deceived,"  the 
act  in  her  case  was  not  irreparable.  The  covenant  was  made 
with  Adam  for  himself  and  for  his  posterity,  including  pos- 
sibly Eve  also;  and  until  he  sinned,  the  covenant  remained 
intact.  She  apparently  was  still  in  ignorance  of  the  gravity 
of  the  act  she  had  just  committed;  she  did  not  know  or  feel 
her  nakedness;  in  any  case,  she  had  compromised  herself  only; 
but  the  man,  with  full  knowledge  of  what  he  was  doing, 
instead  of  beseeching  pardon  for  her,  and  for  himself  the 
protection  of  his  God,  chose  to  unite  himself  with  her  in  her 
rebellion,  and  from  her  own  hands  accepted  the  fatal  fruit, 
and  ate;  and  they  both  fell  together.  In  the  act  itself  their 
eyes  were  opened,  and  they  knew  (what  she  seems  not  to 
have  noticed  before)  that  they  were  naked;  and  sewing  to- 
gether an  ill-made  clothing  of  fig  leaves,  they  endeavored  to 
conceal  their  shame  and  nakedness  from  each  other,  and  from 
the  eyes  of  God.  Not  "aprons"  as  says  our  English  Version, 
which  would  go  only  partially  around  them;  but  "girdles,"  as 
the  R.  V.  gives  in  a  marginal  note:  "girdles  (or  girders) 
which  should  cover  them" — the  last  words  in  italics — is  the 
Modern  Spanish  Version:  a  covering  that  girded  them  all  the 
way  round,  is  the  sense  of  the  Hebrew  text. 

3:  8 — 19.     THE   CURSE.     THE  PROMISE.      (Of  Uncertain   date.) 

8  And  they  heard  the  voice  of  Jehovah  God  walking  in  the  garden 
in  the  cool  of  the  day :  and  the  man  and  his  wife  hid  themselves  from 


CHAPTER  3:  8—19  09 

the    presenco    of    Jehovah    God    amongst    the    trees    of    the    ganlon. 

9  And  Jeho  ah  God  called  unto  the  man,  and  said  unto  him, 
Where  art  thou? 

10  And  he  said,  I  heard  thy  voice  in  the  garden,  and  I  was  afraid, 
because  I  was  naked  ;  and  I  hid  myself. 

11  And  he  snid,  Who  told  thee  that  thou  wast  naked?  Hast  thou 
eaten  of  the  tree,  whereof  I  commanded  thee  that  thou  shouldest 
not   eat? 

12  And  the  man  said,  The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to  be  with 
me,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree,  and  I  did  eat. 

13  And  Jehovah  God  said  unto  the  woman.  What  is  this  thou 
hast  done?  And  the  woman  said,  The  serpent  beguiled  me,  and  I 
did   eat. 

14  And  Jehovah  God  said  unto  the  serpent.  Because  thou  hast 
done  this,  cursed  art  thou  above  all  cattle,  and  above  every  beast 
of  thi  field;  upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all 
the  days  of  thy  life : 

15  and  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  be- 
tween thy  seed  and  her  seed  :  he  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt 
bruise  his  heel. 

IG  Unto  the  woman  he  said,  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  pain  and 
thy  conception ;  in  pain  thou  shalt  bring  forth  children ;  and  thy 
desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall   rule   over  thee. 

17  And  unto  Adam  he  said,  Because  thou  hast  hearkened  unto 
the  voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree,  of  which  I  com- 
manded thee,  saying,  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  cursed  is  the  ground 
for  thy  sake ;  in  toil  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life  : 

18  thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee ;  and  thou 
shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field  ; 

19  in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  re- 
turn unto  the  ground  ;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken  :  for  dust  thou 
art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return. 

Jehovah  was  accustomed,  in  the  cool  of  the  day,  to  visit 
and  converse  with  Adam  and  Eve;  but  what  had  before  been 
to  them  a  delight,  now  causes  them  terror;  and  they  hide 
themselves,  self-condemned,  among  the  thickest  of  the  trees 
of  the  garden.  Jehovah  calls  him,  and  the  man  confesses 
his  shame  and  his  fear.  "Who  hath  told  thee  (Jehovah  God 
answers  him)  that  thou  art  naked?"  Who  hath  taken  from 
thee  that  veil  of  innocence  which  hid  thy  nakedness  from 
thine  eyes?  "Hast  thou  eaten  of  the  tree  of  which  I  com- 
manded thee  that  thou  shouldst  not  eat?"  The  man  (an 
example  which  his  sons  and  daughters  faithfully  follow),  in- 
stead of  confessing  and  deploring  his  sin,  casts  the  blame  on 
the  woman;  and  the  very  form  of  his  w^ords  reveals  not  merely 
resentment  against  his  companion,  but  the  blackest  ingratitude 
against  God,  who  had  made  him  so  incomparable  a  gift,  in- 
culpating Jiim  with  7iis  part  in  the  blame;  "The  icoman  whom 
thou  didst  put  with  me  [Span.  Ver.],  she  gave  me  of  the  tree,  and 
I  did  eat."  So  it  happens  always  with  sinners,  until  true  re- 
pentance touches  their  hearts.  In  like  manner,  the  woman  casts 
the  blame  on  the  serpent;  and  then  Jehovah  pronounces  sentence 


40  GENESIS 

upon  each  one  of  the  three,  beginning  with  the  serpent. 
The  serpent  was  to  be  of  all  the  animal  creation  the  most 
accursed.  The  subtlety  of  the  serpent,  of  which  vr.  1  speaks, 
refers  primarily  to  this  serpent  in  particular:  the  curse  fell  on  it, 
and  on  all  its  kind;  putting,  as  is  seen  and  always  has  been  seen, 
implacable  hatred  between  men  and  this  reptile; — a  singular 
hatred,  more  than  against  any  other  part  of  the  animal  creation; 
a  hatred  for  which  we  shall  with  difficulty  find  a  reason  without 
attending  to  this  curse.  It  is  not  easy  to  explain  to  ourselves  the 
universal  fame  which  this  diabolical  reptile  has  had  for  wisdom 
among  all  the  nations  of  antiquity,  without  reference  to  this  act 
of  treason  against  God,  effected  by  the  cunning  of  that  "old 
Serpent  who  is  called  the  Devil  and  Satan,  the  deceiver  of  the 
whole  world."  Rev.  12:  9.  There  is  no  reason  for  believing,  as 
some  say,  that  prior  to  this  time  the  serpent  walked  erect.  "With 
regard  to  "eating  the  dust,"  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  is  a  part 
of  his  vile  condition,  and  is  best  explained  by  reference  to  Ps. 
72:  9, 

"His  enemies  shall  lick  the  dust"; 
and  in  fact,  Micah  7:  17,  in  this  very  sense  of  degradation,  says: 
"They  shall  lick  the  dust  like  the  serpent; 
like  crawling  things  of  the  earth,  they  shall  come  forth 
trembling  out  of  their  close  places." 

The  looman  was  to  suffer  many,  prolonged  and  bitter  pains 
of  maternity,  such  as  did  not  belong  to  her  original  condition: 
this  is  the  sense  of  the  Hebrew  text,  and  not  that  God  would 
increase  them;  and  she  who  was  to  have  been  the  companion 
and  equal  of  man,  in  his  state  of  innocence  and  perfection,  was 
placed  in  subjection  under  him:  "He  shall  rule  over  thee"  [Span. 
Ver.  "He  shall  be  thy  lord"].  Let  the  degradation  and  slavery  of 
woman  for  6,000  years  testify  of  this,  and  her  condition  till  today, 
in  all  non-Christian  countries;  a  degradation,  from  which  only 
the  Gospel  of  Christ  has  freed  her.  Even  the  apostles  of  Christ 
told  him  roundly  that  if  the  man  had  not  the  liberty  of  dismissing 
his  wife  for  every  cause  (much  as  one  would  dismiss  his  house- 
servant  or  his  cook),  without  anything  more  than  writing  and 
giving  her  the  three  or  four  lines  of  a  bill  of  divorcement,  without 
the  intervention  of  judge  or  jury— "if  such  be  the  condition  of  the 
man  with  his  wife,  it  is  not  good  to  quarry!"  Matt.  19:  10.  Lost 
to  right  reason  must  that  woman  be  who  does  not  know  how  to 
love  and  appreciate  her  Benefactor  and  Liberator,  who  re- 
stored her  to  the  place  of  liberty  and   equality,  to  which  God 


CHAPTER  3:  8— 19  41 

from  the  beginning  has  destined  her,  as  the  companion,  but 
not  the  slave  of  man.    See  Matt.  19:  3 — 10;  Deut.  24:  1. 

The  man:  on  him,  rather  than  on  the  woman,  the  curse  fell 
with  concentrated  force: — it  being  understood,  however,  that 
she  participated  in  the  curse  that  fell  on  Adam  and  his  poster- 
ity. For  his  cause  the  earth  itself  was  to  be  accursed,  and  in- 
stead of  the  grateful  labors  of  Eden,  there  began  for  Adam  and 
his  descendants  the  hard  struggle  for  existence.  Without  arms, 
without  tools  or  instruments  of  any  kind,  without  clothing, 
without  habitation,  cast  out  from  the  paradise  which  had  been 
formerly  his  own,  he  entered  upon  the  unequal  contest,  gaining 
his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  face,  until  he  should  return  to  the 
ground  from  whence  he  was  taken. 

[Note  8. — On  Death.  Adam  lived  930  years;  but  according 
to  the  penalty  of  the  broken  covenant,  he  died  in  the  very  day 
that  he  ate  the  -forbidden  fruit;  showing  that  "death"  in  the 
proper  and  full  Bible  meaning  of  the  word,  is  not  merely  or 
chiefly  the  death  of  the  body;  but  is  rather  to  suffer  the  loss 
of  the  favor  of  God  which  is  life,  and  to  partake  in  all  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  ills  involved  in  that  unparalleled  loss. 
It  is  frequently  alleged,  that  so  extensive  and  complete  a  ruin 
could  not  have  resulted  from  an  act  as  simple  as  the  eating 
of  the  forbidden  fruit.  The  allegation  is  specious,  but  false. 
It  was  not  the  eating  of  a  certain  fruit  which  caused  so  much 
ruin;  it  was  the  sinning  against  God;  and  it  ought  to  be  con- 
fessed at  once,  that  we,  as  sinners,  are  totally  incapable  of 
judging  with  reference  to  the  criminality  or  the  necessary 
consequences  of  such  an  act.  If  we  were  in  some  cavern  of 
deepest  darkness,  exposed  to  fall  at  every  moment  down  fear- 
ful precipices  or  into  dangerous  pits,  and  our  whole  security 
and  the  hope  of  escaping  from  thence  depended  on  a  lighted 
candle  which  we  carried  in  the  hand,  with  the  strictest  injunc- 
tions to  guard  it  as  our  very  life;  it  would  be  an  act  of 
fatuity  after  it  had  been  extinguished  through  our  own  care- 
lessness, to  complain  that  it  was  not  a  hurricane  but  a  simple 
breath  of  air  which  put  it  out!  Thus  it  was  that  our  welfare 
and  life  depended  entirely  on  the  favor  of  God;  and  his  favor 
depended  on  the  keeping  of  his  covenant;  for  once  the  con- 
dition was  violated  on  which  depended  "his  favor  which  is 
life,"  man  was  submerged  in  death  temporal,  spiritual,  eternal.] 

Nevertheless  we  believe,  as  has  been  already  said  (p.  32), 
that  if  there  had  not  interposed  the  purpose  of  God  in  Christ 
to  redeem  us  as  fallen,  at  once  the  sentence  of  death,  in  its 
whole  extension,  would   have   overtaken  these  two  sinners,   be- 


42  GENESIS 

fore  they  had  children  to  partake  of  their  ruin.  Besides  this, 
with  respect  of  the  greater  part  of  the  descendants  of  the 
first  trangressor,  that  part  which  has  died  in  tender  infancy, 
we  believe  that,  as  they  were  made  partakers  of  the  sin  of 
Adam  without  any  act  of  their  own,  so  also,  without  any  act 
of  their  own,  they  are  made  partakers  of  the  righteousness 
and  redemption  of  Christ.  With  regard  to  those  who  arrive 
at  the  age  of  persdnal  responsibility  (whatever  that  may  be), 
and  by  their  own  act  are  sinners,  there  remains  for  them 
the  choice  of  justifying  and  applauding  the  act  of  the  first 
transgressor,  by  refusing  to  abandon  his  way  of  sin,  or  of 
condemning  and  repudiating  it,  and  taking  refuge  in  Christ, 
the  second  Adam,  whom  God  has  made  the  eternal  life  of 
men.  Those  who  in  Christian  lands  shut  their  ears  against 
God's  many  and  tender  invitations,  and  refuse  to  repent  and 
abandon  their  sins,  do  in  effect  say:  "Well  done,  Adam!  well 
done!     We  will  faithfully  follow  in  thy  footsteps!" 

The  promise.  Enwrapped  in  the  curse  which  fell  upon  the 
serpent,  is  found  the  first  promise — the  germ  of  all  the  other 
promises.  It  is  clear  that  there  is  found  here  a  curse  upon  the 
whole  race  of  snakes,  and  a  prophecy  of  the  implacable  hatred 
which  exists  between  them  and  men.  The  words  of  this  prophecy 
(for  it  is  a  prophecy  as  well  as  a  promise)  have,  as  many  other 
prophecies  have,  a  double  application  and  a  double  fulfilment; 
as  there  was  there  not  merely  a  serpent,  but  that  "Wicked  One," 
who  availed  himself  of  that  disguise  to  disarm  the  suspicions  of 
Eve,  and  to  awaken  her  curiosity  and  interest.  Eternal  hatred, 
then,  God  put  between  the  serpent  and  Eve  and  between  the 
descendants  of  the  one  and  the  descendants  of  the  other;  but  at 
the  same  time  he  put  eternal  hatred  between  Satan  and  "the 
Woman,"  and  between  his  seed  and  her  seed.  Who  then  was  "the 
Woman"?  In  the  natural  sense  of  the  words,  as  we  have 
already  said,  the  woman  was  Eve  and  the  serpent  was  the 
reptile  of  this  name;  and  the  two  seeds  are  men  and  snakes 
respectively.  But  in  symbolical  usage,  a  serpent  cannot  be  a 
serpent,  nor  a  woman  a  woman;  nor  can  the  two  respective 
seeds  be  snakes  and  men  in  general.  The  serpent  is  Satan 
as  has  been  already  shown,  but  who  is  "the  Woman,"  and 
who  are  the  seed  of  each  respectively?  It  is  not  Eve;  and 
for  the  same  reason  it  cannot  be  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus. 
Who  then  can  it  be?  The  twelfth  chapter  of  the  Book  of 
Revelation  paints  this  woman  with  wonderful  clearness,  to- 
gether with  her  first-born  Son,  and  also  "the  rest  of  her  seed, 
against  both  of  whom — the  woman  and  her  seed   (the  first  born. 


CHAPTER  3:  8—19  43 

and  all  the  rest  of  "the  seed  of  the  woman") — "that  ancient 
Serpent,  called  the  Devil  and  Satan,"  makes  unceasing  war. 
According  to  the  constant  use  of  both  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testaments,  that  woman  is  the  CJmrch,  who  is  one  and  the  same 
throughout  all  the  ages,  the  mother  of  Christ,  "according  to  the 
flesh,"  and  of  us;  he  being  "the  first-born  among  many  brethren." 
Romans  8:  29.  Paul,  speaking  allegorically  of  the  two  wives  of 
Abraham,  Sarah  and  Hagar, — the  free  woman  and  the  slave — 
says:  "For  this  Hagar  is  Mount  Sinai  in  Arabia,  and  answers 
to  the  Jerusalem  that  is  now;  for  she  is  in  bondage  with  all  her 
children.  But  the  Jerusalem  which  is  above  is  free;  who  is  our 
mother."     Gal.  4:  25,  26. 

This  is  then  "the  Woman"  of  this  prophecy — the  mother 
of  all  the  people  of  God,  including  Jesus  Christ  in  his  human 
nature,  who  is  the  first-born  of  them,  the  Chief,  the  Head,  the 
King,  and  Redeemer  of  the  other  children.  The  Church,  then, 
is  neither  Jewish,  nor  Protestant,  nor  Anglican,  and  still  less 
Roman;  for  her  also  John  portrays  in  the  Revelation  as  a 
"woman,"  but  very  different  from  the  former; — an  unfaithful 
spouse  (and  therefore  not  a  heathen  power),  seated  upon  the 
seven  hills  of  Rome,  Rev.  17:  3—6,  18. 

Between  the  Church,  then, — the  Church  of  the  believing  people 
of  God  in  all  ages  and  countries — and  Satan,  and  between  her 
seed  and  his  seed,  God  has  placed  enmity  (comp.  Eph.  2:2,  3; 
2  Cor.  4:  3,  4);  the  which  two  seeds  divide  between  themselves 
the  whole  race  of  Adam  and  Eve.  And  so  Jesus  says  in  Matt. 
13:  38:  "The  good  seed  are  the  children  of  the  kingdom;  but  the 
tares  are  the  children  of  the  Wicked  One";  and  again,  he  said  to 
the  unbelieving  Jews:  "Ye  are  of  your  father  the  Devil,  and  the 
lusts  of  your  father  it  is  your  will  to  do."  John  8:  44.  Those 
misguided  Christians,  then,  who  believe  that  they  are  doing  a 
meritorious  work  in  trying  to  harmonize  the  Church  and  the 
world,  by  minimizing  the  essential  distinction  which  exists  be- 
tween the  two,  are  in  open  conflict  with  God,  who  says:  "/  ivill 
put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed 
and  her  seed." 

False  and  very  pernicious  is  the  favorite  error  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  (which  contradicts  also  the  notes  of  their  own 
Bible  [Amat's  certainly]  upon  chapter  12  of  the  Revelation), 
in  applying  to  Mary  the  second  part  of  this  verse,  making  it 
to  read:  "She  shall  bruise  thy  head,"  etc.,  and  representing  Mary 
(as  she  is  everywhere  to  be  seen  pictured)  with  the  babe  in  her 
arms,  and  the  serpent  under  her  feet.  In  Spanish,  woman  and 
seed  are  both  alike  of  the  feminine  gender,  so  that  the  relative 


44  GENESIS 

pronoun  "she"  is  equivocal,  as  it  can  be  referred  to  either  of  the 
two;  but  in  the  Hebrew  text  the  v/ord  translated  "seed"  is 
masculine,  and  the  relative  pronoun  is  "he",  and  not  "she";  so 
that  the  Hebrew  says  explicitly:  "He  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and 
thou  Shalt  bruise  Ms  heel."  The  word  ''wound",  used  in  Spanish, 
and  "■'bruise"  in  English,  are  neither  of  them  fully  adequate  to  the 
occasion:  it  is  not  an  ordinary  blow  that  is  spoken  of,  but  a 
mortal  blow  in  both  cases.  ''Break"  is  the  word  employed  in  the 
Modern  Spanish  Version;  it  being  understood  that  if  to  break,  the 
heel  means  death,  to  break  the  head  means  utter  destruction. 

I  believe  also  that  it  is  very  inadequate  to  say  (though  this  be 
the  ordinary. form  of  statement)  that  "the  seed  of  the  woman" 
is  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  as  such:  he  is  more  properly  one  indi- 
vidual of  the  Woman's  seed:  the  first  and  chief  est,  and  the  Re- 
deemer of  the  rest  of  the  seed,  but  by  no  means  the  totality  of  it. 
In  the  very  striking  presentation  of  the  matter  in  the  passage 
already  quoted,  he  was  her  first-born  (Rom.  8:  29;  Rev.  12:  5)  "the 
man  child  who  is  to  rule  all  the  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron"; 
who  is  carefully  distinguished  in  vr.  5  from  "the  rest  of  her  seed, 
who  keep  the  commandments  of  God  and  hold  the  testimony  of 
Jesus",  against  whom  the  Dragon  (=  the  Serpent)  went  to  make 
war,  in  vr.  17.  Christ  has  died  and  risen  again;  and  "has  ob- 
taihed  (in  his  own  person)  eternal  redemption  for  us"  (Heb. 
9:  12);  but  Satan  is  still  "the  prince"  and  "god  of  this  world" 
(Eph.  2:  2;  2  Cor.  4:  4),  and  will  continue  so  till  the  "end  of  the 
Age", — when  his  time  shall  come.  Matt.  13:  49,  and  8:  29.  The 
Serpent's  head  is  wounded  unto  death,  but  still  far  from  utterly 
broken.  He  is  yet  the  head  over  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  and  is 
untiringly  active  and  of  terrible  power.  He  still  holds,  as  Paul 
says,  "the  power  of  death"  (Heb.  2:  14),  and  as  a  mighty  lord, 
which  he  is,  "he  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience  and 
holds  them  captive  to  do  his  will,"  Eph.  2:2;  2  Tim.  2:  26. 
Strictly  understood,  this  is  a  prophecy  rather  of  the  redemption, 
than  of  the  Redeemer ;  as  generally  happens  in  the  prophecies  of 
the  Old  Testament;  and  if  we  look  at  it  rightly,  we  shall  see  that 
Christ,  when  he  placed  himself  in  our  stead,  and  when 
"Jehovah  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all,"  had  necessakily  to 
REDEEM  HIMSELF  through  the  efficacy  of  his  own  blood,  together 
with  his  people.  [So  Paul  unmistakably  teaches  where  he  says 
that  "the  God  of  peace  brought  again  from  the  dead  the  great 
Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  our  Lord  Jesus,  through  the  blood  of  the 
everlasting  covenant."  Heb  13:  20.  And  as  our  sins  were  laid  on 
him,  not  in  a  fictitious,  but  in  a  very  real  judicial  sense,  he  could 
not  get  quit  of  them  at  all,  except  by  atoning  for  them  with  the 


CHAPTER  3:  20—21  45 

efficacy  of  his  own  blood.  If  it  had  been  as  impossible  for  his  blood 
to  take  away  sins,  as  it  was  for  that  of  bulls  and  goats,  he  would 
today  be  as  dead  as  Judas  Iscariot, — Judas  for  his  own,  and  Jesus 
for  the  sins  of  others.  On  this  fact  and  on  the  certainty  of  his  res- 
urrection we  base  our  assuraxce  of  pardon  and  eternal  life. — Tr.] 

The  saints  of  the  ancient  time  embraced  fervently  the  promise 
of  redemption  (Heb.  11:  10,  13,  16,  35,  39,  40),  and  they  believed 
in  Jehovah  as  their  Redeemer  and  the  God  of  their  salvation; 
but  it  was  little  that  they  understood  (nor  was  it  necessary  that 
they  should  understand  it),  of  the  person  of  that  Redeemer,  who 
was  to  give  effect  to  the  promise,  by  dying  for  our  sins  and  rising 
again  for  our  justification:  if  it  had  been  otherwise,  John  the 
Baptist  and  the  apostles  of  Christ  would  not  have  been  so  com- 
pletely ignorant  as  they  were,  and  until  after  its  accomplishment 
continued  to  be,  of  the  expiatory  death  of  Jesus  and  his  resurrec- 
tion to  immortal  life. 

"The  seed  of  the  woman"  then,  ought  to  be  understood  of  the 
totality  of  the  people  of  God — all  the  seed,  including  Christ,  as 
"the  first-born"  and  the  Liberator  of  the  rest.  The  promise  yet 
fails  of  great  part  of  its  fulfilment.  So  Paul  said  to  the  Chris- 
tians of  Rome:  "The  God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under  your 
feet  shortly''.  Rom.  16:  20.  He  bruised  (or  broke)  the  heel  (ac- 
cording to  the  usage  of  snakes)  of  Christ  at  his  death,  and  of  the 
rest  of  the  seed  of  the  woman,  when  they  die:  but  Christ,  for  him- 
self and  for  all  his,  has  broken  the  Serpent's  head,  or  commenced 
the  good  work,  with  his  own  death  and  his  resurrection  to  life 
eternal;  and  he  will  make  an  end  of  it  with  the  "redemption  of 
our  body,"  at  the  last  day.  As  Paul  says,  Christ,  by  his  death 
and  resurrection,  "abolished  death"  (2  Tim.  1:  10),  for  himself, 
in  the  first  place,  and  potentially  for  all  his  people  together  with 
himself,  "destroying  by  means  of  death  him  that  hath  the  power 
(=  dominion)  of  death,  that  is  the  devil,  and  delivering  them 
who  through  fear  of  death,  are  all  their  lifetime  subject  to 
bondage."     (Heb.  2:  14,  15.) 

3:  20,  21.    EVE.    THE  COATS  OF  SKINS.     (Of  Uncertain  date.) 

20  And  the  man  called  his  wife's  name  Eve :  because  she  was 
the  mother  of  all  living. 

21  And  Jehovah  God  made  for  Adam  and  for  his  wife  coats  of 
skins,  and  clothed  them. 

Adam  called  his  wife  Eve  (=:Life),  because  she  was  (or  was 
to  be)  "the  mother  of  all  the  living"; — another  undeniable  proof 
that  according  to  the  Bible,  all  mankind,  in  all  its  different  races, 
tongues,  colors  and  types,  proceed  from  one  and  same  stock. 
It  is  natural  that  Adam  and  Eve  should  have  believed  that  the 


i46  GENESIS 

penalty  of  the  broken  covenant  would  have  taken  effect  at  once, 
in  the  strict  letter  of  the  word,  and  that  they  would  be  destroyed 
immediately;  and  it  is  possible  that  when  Adam  called  his  wife 
"Life"  (—  Eve),  he  gave  expression  to  the  relief  they  both  felt  on 
seeing  that  it  did  not  so  happen. 

The  coats  of  skins,  in  the  opinion  of  the  best  interpreters  of 
Scripture,  ancient  and  modern,  give  us  the  first  intimation  we 
have  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  rite  of  sacrifice.  It  is  morally 
impossible  that  by  an  act  of  original  creation  God  should  have 
provided  the  skins  to  make  these  coats.  It  is  no  less  impossible 
that  he  should  have  killed  the  animals  to  take  off  their  skins,  and 
then  cast  out  their  carcasses  to  the  vultures.  It  is  highly  improb- 
able that,  having  taken  off  the  skins,  he  should  have  given  the 
flesh  to  Adam  and  Eve  to  eat.  There  does  not  remain,  therefore, 
any  other  possible  supposition  but  that  God  himself  instituted, 
then  and  there,  the  rite  of  sacrifice  (in  token  of  his  mercy,  thus 
shadowed  forth,  when  he  accepted  the  death  of  the  innocent  victim 
in  the  stead  of  man  the  sinner),  causing  the  flesh  to  be  burned 
upon  the  altar,  and  converting  the  skins  into  coats,  which  should 
answer  the  double  purpose  of  covering  their  nakedness  and  pro- 
tecting their  persons.  According  to  the  levitical  law,  the  skin 
was  not  consumed  with  the  burnt-offering,  but  was  for  the  priest 
who  offered  the  sacrifice.  Lev.  7:  8.  "When  God,  therefore,  in- 
stituted this  first  sacrifice,  there  remained  to  him  the  skins  of 
the  burnt  offerings  to  make  into  coats.  And  only  thus  can  we 
reasonably  explain  the  words  of  the  apostle  in  Heb.  11:  4:  "By 
faith  Abel  offered  unto  God  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain"; 
because  if  the  sacrifice  had  been  something  of  his  own  invention, 
it  could  not  have  been  "by  faith";  since  in  the  Biblical  and 
Evangelical  sense  of  the  word,  faith  is  a  loving  confidence  in  and 
acceptance  of  the  word  and  promise  of  God;  and  Christ  estab- 
lishes for  us  this  general  principle  of  worship:  "In  vain  do  they 
worship  me,  teaching  doctrines  which  are  the  precepts  of  men." 
(M.  S.  V.)  Matt.  15:  9.  It  is  also  interesting  to  notice  how  both 
the  sacrifice  at  Eden's  gate,  and  its  great  antitype  on  Calvary, 
furnished  not  only  expiation  for  sin,  but  clothing  which  serves 
both  for  our  protection,  and  to  cover  our  nakedness  and  shame. 
From  the  poor  lamb  was  taken  away  his  covering  and  protection, 
to  bestow  them  on  the  sinner.  Thus  it  was  with  the  "robe  of 
righteousness"  (Isa.  61:  10)  which  Christ  bestows  on  us,  and 
with  which  Paul  desired  evermore  and  only  to  be  clothed.  Rom. 
3:  21—24,  and  Phil.  3:  9.     See  also  Rev.  3:  18. 


CHAPTER  3:  22—24  47 

3:  22 — 24.  the  banishment  of  our  first  parents  from  paradise 
and  from  the  vicinity  of  the  tisee  of  life.  the  cheru- 
BIM.    (Of  uncertain  date.) 

22  And  Johovah  God  said,  Behold,  tlie  man  is  become  as  one  of 
us,  to  know  good  and  evil ;  and  now,  lest  lie  put  forth  his  hand,  and 
take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  for  ever — 

1^3  therefore  Jehovah  God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden, 
to  till  the  ground  from  whence  he  was  taken. 

24  So  he  drove  out  the  man ;  and  he  placed  at  the  east  of  the 
garden  of  Eden  the  Cherubim,  and  the  flame  of  a  sword  which  turned 
every  way,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life. 

In  form,  this  banishment  manifests  the  wrath  of  God  on  ac- 
count of  their  sin;  and  it  is  often  supposed  that  the  denying  them 
access  to  tlie  tree  of  life  was  depriving  them  of  a  real  good;  but 
in  reality,  it  was  just  contrary.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
tree  of  life  (mentioned  here,  and  also  in  Rev.  22:  2,  spealving  of 
paradise  regained),  and  whatever  may  have  been  its  virtue  to 
give  life,  it  ought  to  be  considered  that  immortality  is  not  a  good 
except  for  the  pure  and  holy,  and  that  an  imviortality  of  sin  is 
necessarily  eternal  perdition.  It  is  not  conceivable  that  a  race  of 
sinners,  like  ourselves,  at  enmity  with  God  and  his  law,  his 
kingdom  aad  his  righteousness,  loving  what  is  evil  and  totally 
corrupted  (spiritually)  in  mind  and  heart,  "hateful  and  hating 
one  another"  (Tit.  3:  3),  could  exist  in  society  under  any  other 
conditions  than  those  which  God  imposed  upon  it  in  the  day  of 
its  sin.  Let  the  law  of  enforced  labor  in  order  to  gain  one's 
bread  be  revoked;  let  the  law  of  sickness  and  other  physical  in- 
firmities be  removed;  let  there  be  taken  away  from  man  the  fear 
of  death  and  the  fact  of  death,  without  changing  his  depraved 
nature,  and  the  result  would  be  .  .  .  well,  the  infidel  and 
free-thinker  shall  say  the  word — "a  hell."  Besides  this,  it  is  al- 
together probable,  or  better  said,  it  is  altogether  certain,  that 
only  by  means  of  the  death  of  Christ  could  there  be  made  a 
satisfaction  to  divine  justice,  an  atonement  for  our  sins.  Physi- 
cal death,  therefore,  on  the  one  hand,  makes  social  life  possible  to 
a  race  of  sinners,  during  the  brief  space  of  time  which  we  spend 
as  a  shadow  on  the  earth;  and  on  the  other,  only  this  made  it 
possible  to  pay  the  ransom  of  our  souls:  "By  means  of  death  he 
(Christ)  destroyed  him  who  had  the  power  (or  dominion)  of 
death,  that  is,  the  devil,  and  delivered  them  who  through  fear  of 
death  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage."     Heb.  2:  14. 

Those  two  sinners,  therefore,  having  been  banished  from  para- 
dise, Jehovah  placed  at  the  gate  of  it  "the  cherubim  and  a  flam- 
ing sword,  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree 
of  life."     It  is  difficult  to  determine  the  nature,  class  and  office 


48  GENESIS 

of  the  cheruhim.  Besides  this  case,  the  word  occurs  73  times 
in  the  Bible;  44  times  with  reference  to  the  symbolical  figures 
standing  at  the  two  ends  of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  between 
which  dwelt  the  God  of  Israel,  and  embroidered  on  the  curtains 
of  the  Tabernacle,  and  likewise  sculptured  on  the  woodwork  of 
the  Temple;  and  19  times  it  is  used  in  the  book  of  Ezekiel 
(chapters  1  and  10),  with  respect  of  those  mysterious  beings 
that  bore,  and  in  part  formed,  the  "chariot"  of  the  God  of 
Israel.  There  were  four  of  them,  inseparable  from  the  plat- 
form and  the  wheels;  and  all  that  apparatus,  with  its  platform, 
throne,  wheels,  cherubim,  animated  by  the  same  life,  spirit 
and  purpose,  went  to  form  one  living  being;  by  these  circum- 
stances says  Ezekiel,  "I  knew  that  they  were  cherubim."  Ezek. 
10:  15 — 20.  They  each  had  four  faces,  that  of  a  man,  a  lion,  an 
ox  and  an  eagle;  they  each  had  also  four  wings,  and  a  hand,  or  an 
arm  with  a  hand,  beneath  each  wing.  In  the  book  of  Revelation, 
chapters  4,  5,  6,  etc.,  we  have  four  living  beings — again  four — 
"in  the  midst,"  between  the  four  and  twenty  elders  and  the 
throne  of  God;  which  also  must  have  been  cherubim;  although 
this  is  not  expressly  said.  But  this  time  the  four  had  six 
wings  each  (like  the  seraphim  of  Isa.  6:2),  and  they  were 
each  one  of  a  different  form;  one  like  a  lion,  one  like  a  calf, 
another  had  the  face  of  a  man,  and^  the  other  was  like  a 
flying  eagle.    Rev.  4:  7,  8. 

The  cherubim  which  overshadowed  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
(Ex.  25:  18 — 22)  had  two  wings  and  one  face  each;  those  of 
olive  wood,  ten  cubits  high,  which  were  in  the  Holy  of  Holies 
of  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  were  probably  of  the  same  form; 
as  also  seem  to  have  been  those  that  were  embroidered  on  the 
curtains  of  the  Tabernacle  and  sculptured  on  the  wainscoting 
and  the  doors  of  the  Temple.  Once  only  Ezekiel  (ch.  41:  18), 
in  the  representation  he  gives  of  his  ideal  Temple,  depicts  for 
us  cherubim  of  two  faces — of  a  man  and  of  a  lion.  Once  David, 
in  high  and  resonant  poetry,  (Ps.  18:  10),  represents  to  us 
Jehovah  as  mounted  upon  a  cherub  and  flying  with  impetuous 
sweep  to  the  aid  of  his  servant.  From  all  this  it  seems  evident 
that  the  cherubim  were  not  an  especial  order  of  the  celestial 
hierarchy,  but  that,  like  as  the  "twenty-four  elders"  of  the 
Apocalypse  were  symbolical  representations  of  God's  redeemed 
people,  rather  than  individual  persons,  so  also  the  cherubim 
were  symbolical  representations  of  those  celestial  intelligences 
of  high  rank,  that  were  charged  in  a  special  manner  with  the 
affairs  and  the  interests  of  the  human  redemption;  and  who 
also  served  as  the  accompaniment  of  the  God  of  Israel,  under 


CHAPTER  3:  22—24  49 

the  particular  aspect  of  his  relations  to  his  people,  manifested  in 
the  shekinah  of  glory  on  Mount  Sinai,  in  the  Tabernacle,  and 
in  the  column  of  jQre  and  cloud  which  guided  and  defended  them 
in  the  desert. 

The  common  opinion  that  the  cherubim  grasped  and  wielded 
the  flaming  sword,  is  entirely  without  foundation.  On  the  con- 
trary, there  were  several  cheruMm  and  only  one  sword;  the 
former,  representing  or  manifesting  the  divine  presence,  and 
the  latter,  the  sword  of  his  justice  which  forbade  those  two 
sinners  to  approach  the  tree  of  life.  In  Rev.  22:14  (R.  V.)  we 
see  that  only  those  who  "have  washed  their  garments"  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb  have  "the  right  to  come  to  the  tree  of  life," 
yonder,  in  paradise  regained. 

At  this  point  the  tree  of  life  completely  disappears  from  human 
history,  to  reappear  once  more,  in  the  consummation  of  the  ages, 
in  apocalyptic  representation  of  redemption  completed.  The 
intermediate  chapters  of  the  Bible,  from  Gen.  4  to  Rev.  21,  are 
filled  up  with  the  dark,  sad  history  of  the  errors,  sins,  crimes, 
calamities,  wars,  famines,  diseases  and  deaths,  which  have  re- 
sulted from  that  one  woeful  act  of  that  one  man  (Rom.  5:  12 — 19) 
which  put  out  in  our  heavens  the  light  of  God,  and  consigned 
us  to  darkness,  and  death, — that  darkness  illumined,  nevertheless, 
with  the  promises  of  the  divine  mercy  and  of  the  coming  redemp- 
tion; while  the  sacred  volume  closes,  as  it  began,  with  a  new 
CEEATioN — "behold  I  make  all  things  neio"  (Rev.  21:5) — "new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness" 
(2  Pet.  3:13);  and  the  dwelling  of  God  is  again  and  forevermore 
with  men.     Rev.  chapters  21  and  22. 

[Note  9. — On  the  character  and  destiny  of  our  first  parents, 
Adam  and  Eve.  God  has  left  us  in  the  most  complete  uncertainty 
with  regard  to  this;  and  it  ill  befits  us  to  endeavor  to  bring  into 
light  what  he  has  purposely  enshrouded  with  darkness.  Not  only  in 
the  11th  chapter  of  Hebrews,  but  in  all  Holy  Scripture,  the  list 
of  believing  men  begins  with  Abel,  and  not  with  Adam.  It  is 
clear  that  to  them  (Adam  and  Eve)  God  gave  the  first  promise, 
and  instituted  for  them  the  rite  of  sacrifice,  covering  their  naked- 
ness with  the  skins  of  the  victims  of  sacrifice;  which  vividly 
represents  the  garment  which  the  Lamb  of  Calvary  has  pro- 
vided for  us;  but  this  does  not  prove  that  they  accepted  with  faith 
and  sincerity  the  offered  mercy.  The  exclamation  of  Eve  (ch. 
4:1)  when  she  embraced  her  first  son,  makes  undeniable  allusion 
to  the  promise;  but  does  not  necessarily  imply  an  evangelical 
faith  in  it,  any  more  than  the  still  clearer  exclamation  of  Lamech 
signifies  it,  when  Noah  was  born   (ch.  5:  29);   since  it  is  almost 


50  GENESIS 

certain  that  Lamecli  was  one  of  those  sinners  for  whOBe  cause 
the  deluge  came  upon  the  world  of  the  ungodly,  dying  as  he  did, 
according  to  the  common  chronology,  only  five  years  before  that 
catastrophe.  More  appearance  of  faith  and  piety  has  Eve's 
exclamation  when  Seth  (z=Substitution)  was  born,  and  the  name 
which  she  gave  him  (ch.  4:25):  but  that  is  not  decisive.  It  is 
altogether  possible,  that,  as  in  the  case  of  the  angels  who  fell, 
sinning  with  full  knowledge,  so  also  the  sin  of  Adam  and  Eve 
had  no  remission,  and  that  in  the  last  day,  when  they  shall  see 
the  innumerable  multitudes  who  will  "go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment"  as  a  result  of  their  first  transgression,  they  them- 
selves will  desire  to  "go  away"  with  them.  Their  sin  has  no 
resemblance  to  ours,  that  it  should  be  treated  in  the  same  way. 
But  however  this  may  be,  the  Bible  observes  an  absolute  silence 
with  regard  to  their  repentance  and  faith,  with  regard  to  the 
pardon  of  their  sins,  and  with  regard  to  their  character  and 
destiny;  with  the  object,  perhaps,  of  placing  in  the  most  vivid 
contrast  Adam  and  Christ;  the  man  who  damned  the  world  and 
the  divine  Man  who  saves  it.    John  3:16,  17;  1  John  4:14.] 

CHAPTER    IV. 
VBS.  1,  2.     CAIN  AND  ABEL.     (Of  Uncertain  date.) 

1  And  the  man  knew  Eve  his  wife ;  and  she  conceived,  and  bare 
Cain,  and  said,  I  have  gotten  a  man  with  the  help  of  Jehovah. 

2  And  again  she  bare  his  brother  Abel.  And  Abel  was  a  keeper 
of  sheep,  but  Cain  was  a  tiller  of  the  ground. 

The  trial  of  Adam  and  Eve  must  necessarily  have  lasted  some 
considerable  time.  In  the  formerly  prevailing  belief  that  the 
animals  were  created  simultaneously  with  mankind,  and  a  single 
pair  of  each  species  (just  as  it  happened  in  the  case  of  man 
himself),  the  opinion  was  well  founded  that  our  first  parents 
passed  several  years  in  their  state  of  probation,  allowing  time 
for  a  single  pair  of  sheep  to  multiply  sufficiently  to  provide  the 
sacrifices  whose  skins  served  for  the  coats  with  which  God 
clothed  them.  And  although  we  now  know  for  certain  that  the 
domestic  animals  (the  last  of  the  animal  creation)  had  had 
opportunity  to  increase  in  number  before  man  was  created, 
nevertheless,  Adam  and  Eve  must  have  passed  weeks  and  months 
in  their  state  of  innocence,  and  perhaps  a  year  or  two,  before  they 
fell  into  the  transgression;  and  by  the  particular  providence  of 
God  they  had  no  children  until  after  that;  just  as  it  happened  to 
the  sons  of  Noah,  who,  being  all  married  before  the  flood,  had 
no  children  till  after  it.    Ch.  10:1. 


CHAPTER  4:  1,  2  51 

When  Eve  looked  with  admiration  and  maternal  affection  upon 
the  new  creature,  her  first-born  son,  she  called  him  Cain 
(=Acquisition),  saying:  "I  have  gotten  a  man  with  the  help  of 
Jehovah," — with  undoubted  allusion  to  the  promise  of  God  as 
to  the  "seed  of  the  woman;"  although  it  is  impossible  to  pene- 
trate the  meaning  which  she  herself  would  give  to  her  words. 
Some  say  that  the  words  ought  to  be  translated:  "I  have  gotten 
the  man  Jehovah;"  but  although  the  words  are  perhaps  sus- 
ceptible of  this  translation,  it  is  wholly  improbable,  not  to  say 
impossible,  that  Adam  and  Eve  should  have  had  such  knowledge 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  of  the  second  Person  of  the 
Trinity.  But  certainly  it  is  natural  that  Eve  should  have  be- 
lieved that  the  promised  "seed"  was  born,  who  should  break 
the  serpent's  head:  if  so,  how  sad  her  error!  how  woeful  her 
mistake! 

"Abel  (=:Vanity")  was  the  name  given  to  the  second  son,  with 
allusion  to  the  misfortunes  of  his  pious  life,  which  ended  only 
with  his  tragic  death.  1  John  3:12.  Cain  was  a  tiller  of  the 
ground  and  Abel  a  pastor  of  sheep;  a  circumstance  which  comes 
to  dissipate  into  smoke  the  idea,  founded  on  very  insufficient 
evidence,  that  it  was  not  lawful  to  eat  of  flesh  until  after  the 
deluge.  Comp.  Gen.  1:29  with  9:3.  The  fact  that  in  paradise 
Adam  was  not  to  kill  animals  in  order  to  eat  them,  does  not 
imply  that  he  was  not  to  do  so  afterwards.  Abel  kept  sheep  for 
sacrificial  purposes,  no  doubt,  and  to  use  their  skins  for  cloth- 
ing; but  undoubtedly  also  to  eat.  This  is  shown  in  vr.  4,  where 
it  is  said  that  Abel  offered  in  sacrifice  to  Jehovah  "the  firstlings 
of  his  flock,  and  the  fat  thereof  [Mod.  Span.  Ver.  "the  firstlings 
of  his  sheep,  and  their  suets"].  According  to  the  usage  of  the 
ancients,  the  firstlings  of  the  flock  and  of  the  herd  were  for 
Jehovah,  and  when  offered  in  sacrifice,  it  was  probably  as  whole 
burnt  offerings,  all  except  the  skin,  which  was  for  the  priest 
(Lev.  7:8) ;  while  in  the  case  of  peace  offerings,  the  blood  and  the 
suet  were  offered  in  sacrifice  to  Jehovah  (Lev.  3:  16,  17),  but 
the  flesh  was  to  be  eaten.  See  Lev.  7:11-34.  Abel,  therefore, 
brought  to  God — for  it  would  be  an  indication  of  much  ignorance 
of  the  language  and  usages  of  the  Hebrews  to  suppose  that  once 
only  in  his  life-time,  did  he  offer  a  sacrifice  to  God — the  first- 
lings of  his  flock  entire,  less  the  skin;  and  of  the  rest,  the  suet 
and  the  blood;  but  he  and  the  other  members  of  the  family  ate 
the  flesh. 

The  translations  of  Valera  and  Scio,  and  of  the  English  Ver- 
sions as  well,  which  all  say,  "and  of  the  fat,"  or  "of  the  fats."  in- 
stead of  "suet"  or  "suets,"  is  unfortunate,  and  renders  impossible, 


52  GENESIS 

as  I  think,  the  proper  interpretation  of  this  passage.  God  did  not 
forbid  the  Jews  to  eat  "the  fat,"  nor  require  them  to  live  on  lean 
meat.  The  same  thing  happens  in  Lev.  3:16,  17  and  7:23-25, 
which  absolutely  prohibit  under  the  severest  penalty,  the  eating  of 
the  ''suet,"  or  sacrificial  fat,  but  surely  did  not  forbid  the  use  of  the 
fat"!  This  was  the  law:  "All  the  suet  [as  it  should  be  read] 
is  Jehovah's.  It  shall  be  a  perpetual  statute  throughout  your 
generations,  in  all  your  dwelling  places,  that  ye  sliall  eat  neither 
suet  nor  blood."  The  suet  is  the  solid  and  hard  fat  that  clings 
to  the  kidneys  and  the  loins.  This  Abel  gave  to  God  in  sacrifice, 
besides  the  firstlings  of  his  flock;  a  clear  indication,  as  I  see  it, 
that  the  flesh  and  the  ordinary  fat  served  him  and  the  rest  of 
the  family  for  food. 

4:3 — 7.    THE  TWO  SACRIFICES.     (Of  uncertain  date.) 

3  And  in  process  of  time  it  came  to  pass,  that  Cain  brought  of 
the  fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering  unto  Jehovah. 

4  And  Abel,  he  also  brought  of  the  firstlings  of  his  flock  and  of  the 
fat*  thereof.     And  Jehovah  had  respect  unto  Abel  and  to  his  offering : 

5  but  unto  Cain  and  to  his  offering  he  had  not  I'espect.  And 
Cain  was  very  wroth,  and  his  countenance  fell. 

6  And  Jehovah  said  unto  Cain,  Why  art  thou  wroth  and  why 
is  thy  countenance  fallen? 

7  If  thou  doest  well,  shall  it  not  be  lifted  up?t  and  if  thou  doest 
not  well,  sin  coucheth  at  the  door;|  and  unto  thee  shall  be  its  desire; 
but  do  thou  rule  over  it.|l 

[*Afod.  Span.  Ver.,  firstlings  of  his  sheep,  and  of  their  suets.] 
UA.  V.  and  M.  8.  T.,  shalt  thou  not  be  accepted?] 
[+A.  V.  and  M.  S.  V.,  sin  lieth  at  the  door.] 

[\\A.  v.,  his  desire,  and  thou  shalt  rule  over  him.  M.  8.  V.,  thou  shalt  be 
his  lord.] 

On  a  certain  notable  occasion — for  it  is  not  supposable  that 
this  was  the  only  sacrifice  that  Abel  ever  offered — the  two 
brothers  brought  their  offerings  in  sacrifice  to  Jehovah.  "We 
know  that  prior  to  this  Cain  was  wicked  and  Abel  was  just 
(see  vr.  7,  and  1  John  3:  12) ;  but  in  this  particular  sacrifice  we 
find  the  culminating  point  in  the  character  and  destiny  of  each. 
On  comparing  the  business  and  occupation  of  the  two  brothers, 
we  would  say  that  Cain's  was  every  way  superior  to  that  of  Abel; 
and  yet  from  that  very  circumstance  came  the  temptation  to 
despise  the  institution  of  God  and  those  sacrifices  which,  since 
the  fall  of  man,  prefigured  the  expiatory  death  of  Christ.  Rev. 
13:  8.  Cain  "through  the  pride  of  his  contenance,  would  not 
seek  after  God"  (Ps.  10:4),  nor  did  he  care  to  seek  in  the  fiock 
of  his  brother  an  offering  acceptable  to  Jehovah.  In  the  Levitical 
law  are  prescribed  the  circumstances  and  conditions  necessary  in 
order  "that  the  offering  may  be  accepted"  (Lev.  1:  3,  4;  7:  18); 


CHAPTER  4:  3—7  53 

and  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  error 
and  sin  of  the  race,  God  was  less  concerned  about  the  manner  iii 
which  sinners  should  approach  him.     See  Heb.  11  :G;    Lev.  10:3. 

"Cain  brought  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering  to 
Jehovah" — the  produce  of  his  own  especial  industry;  grains,  fruits 
and  flowers;  but  Abel  presented  the  blood  and  the  palpitating 
flesh  of  his  slaughtered  sheep.  In  itself,  and  judging  according 
to  the  light  of  nature  and  the  appearance  of  things,  Cain's  offer- 
ing ought  to  have  been  in  every  sense  more  fitting  and  artistic, 
and  more  pleasing  to  any  person  of  good  taste,  than  that  of  Abel; 
which,  in  itself  considered,  was  shocking  to  good  taste  and  even 
repugnant  to  all  right  feeling.  If  it  were  a  matter  of  his  own 
invention,  it  ought  to  have  been  condemned  as  cruel  and  horrible. 
Nevertheless  Jehovah  accepted  the  offering  of  Abel;  but  he  would 
not  even  look  at  the  beautiful  offering  of  Cain!  From  Heb.  11:  4 
we  know  that  in  this  sacrifice  testimony  was  given  to  Abel  that 
he  was  righteous,  God  himself  testifying  his  acceptance  and  appro- 
bation of  his  gifts  and  sacrifices — for,  according  to  both  texts 
there  were  several.  We  do  not  know  in  what  manner  God  testi- 
fied his  acceptance  and  his  displeasure;  but  it  was  manifested 
in  a  marked  and  unequivocal  way.  According  to  the  analogy  of 
the  word  of  God,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  he  answered  Abel 
by  fire  from  heaven  (see  Jud.  13:  20-23;  1  Kings  IS:  37-39; 
1  Chron.  21:26-28);  leaving  in  neglect  and  dishonor  the  beau- 
tiful and  artistic  offering  of  Cain. 

We  already  know  that  Abel  was  a  holy  man  and  that  Cain 
was  wicked  (1  John  3:12);  but  it  is  certified  to  us  that  it  was 
not  for  his  holiness  that  the  offering  of  Abel  was  accepted,  but 
for  his  FAITH  (Heb.  11:  4);  nor  was  Cain  rejected  as  a  sinner, 
but  for  the  entire  lack  of  that  "faith,  without  which  it  is  im- 
possible to  please  God."  Heb.  11:  6.  Evangelical  faith  is  not 
holiness,  nor  goodness,  nor  any  good  work  of  our  own,  although 
it  is  the  fruitful  source  of  all  of  these;  but  rather,  it  is  the  full 
assurance  of  the  truth  and  certainty  of  the  testimony  which 
God  has  given  us,  simply  because  it  is  his  testimony,  and  a 
hearty  confidence  that  he  will  fulfil  his  declarations  and  his 
promises  (which  we  accept),  in  spite  of  whatever  obstacles  may 
interpose.  So  that  where  there  is  no  testimony  and  promise  of 
Ood  there  can  be  no  evangelical  faith.  Since  it  is  so,  then,  that 
"through  faith  Abel  offered  unto  God  a  more  excellent  sacrifice 
than  Cain"  (Heb.  11:4),  it  is  clear  that  this  was  not  a  sacrifice 
of  his  own  invention,  as  was  that  of  Cain,  but  was  based  on 
the  word  and  promise  of  God; — an  undeniable  proof  that  the 
sacrifice   of   slaughtered   animals   had   been   established   by   God 


54  GENESIS 

himself,  with  probable  allusion  to  the  promise  regarding  "the 
seed  of  the  woman,"  and  in  vivid  representation  of  the  Sacrifice 
of  Calvary.  Abel  was  a  type  of  the  true  servants  of  God,  who 
square  their  lives,  their  hopes  and  their  worship  by  his  ex- 
press word  and  promise,  trusting  in  the  unmerited  mercy  of 
God  in  Christ;  while  Cain,  in  his  self-appointed  sacrifice,  was  a 
type  of  rationalists  and  semi-rationalists  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  Ritualists  and  Romanists  on  the  other,  who  arrange  their 
worship  according  to  their  own  pleasure,  and  with  whom  a 
beautiful  ceremony  of  human  invention  is  worth  more  than  all 
the  positive  institutions  of  God.  The  sacrifice  of  Cain  was 
marked  also  by  this  special  circumstance  (in  common  with  the 
ideas  and  usages  of  the  irreligious  of  today),  that  it  mani- 
fested his  full  satisfaction  with  himself,  and  said  nothing  of 
sin,  nor  of  repentance,  nor  of  expiation;  while  that  of  Abel 
speaks  of  all  this,  pointing  as  it  were  with  the  finger  to  the 
sacrifice  of  "the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world".     John  1:29;   Rev.  13:8. 

Cain  was  very  angry  on  account  of  the  preference  which  God 
gave  to  his  brother  and  his  offering  of  faith;  but  Jehovah 
taught  him  that  the  fault  was  his  own;  for  if  he  did  well  he 
would  be  accepted,  but  if  not,  the  sin  lay  at  his  own  door.  And 
yet,  in  spite  of  the  past,  this  was  not  to  alter  the  natural  rela- 
tions which  existed  between  the  two,  for,  as  God  told  Cain,  the 
rights  of  primogeniture  were  still  his  own:  "To  thee  shall  be 
his  desire,  and  thou  shalt  be  his  lord"  (M.  S.  V.) — or  "rule  over 
him" — the  very  same  words  spoken  to  Eve  in  ch.  3:16,  to  indi- 
cate her  subjection  to  her  husband.  When  Isaac  conferred  on 
Jacob  Esau's  birthright,  he  said  to  him:  "Be  thou  lord  of  thy 
Irethren,  and  let  the  sons  of  thy  mother  bow  down  to  thee". 
Ch.  27:29.  So  simple  and  satisfactory  is  this  sense  of  the 
words,  that  it  seems  unreasonable  to  seek  for  intricate  ex- 
planations; as  that  which  refers  the  word  to  sin,  under  the  figure 
of  a  wild  beast,  crouching  at  his  door  to  devour  him;  but  which 
it  was  in  the  power  of  his  hand  to  subdue,  if  he  so  desired. 

4:  8 — 15.    THE  FIRST  MUEDEB.     (Of  Uncertain  date.) 

8  And  Cain  told  Abel  his  brother.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when 
they  were  in  the  field,  that  Cain  rose  up  against  Abel  his  brother,  and 
Blew   him. 

9  And  Jehovah  said  unto  Cain,  Where  is  Abel  thy  brother?  And 
he  said,  I   know  not:   am  I  my  brother's  keeper? 

10  And  he  said,  What  hast  thou  done?  the  voice  of  thy  brother's 
blood  crieth  unto  me   from  the  ground. 


CHAPTER  4:  8— 15  C, 

11  And  now  cursed  art  thou  from  the  ground,  which  hath  opencJ* 
its  mouth  to  receive  thy   brother's  blood  from   thy   hand ; 

12  when  thou  tillest  the  ground,  it  shall  not  henceforth  yield  unto 
thee  its  strength  ;  a  fugitive  and  a  wanderer  shalt  thou  be  in  the  earth. 

13  And  Cain  said  unto  Jehovah,  My  punishment  is  greater  than 
I   can  bear.! 

14  Behold,  thou  hast  driven  me  out  this  day  from  the  face  of  the 
ground ;  and  from  thy  face  shall  I  be  hid ;  and  I  shall  be  a  fugitive 
and  a  wanderer  in  the  earth ;  and  it  will  come  to  pass,  that  whoso- 
ever findeth  me  will  slay  me.  * 

15  And  Jehovah  said  unto  him,  Therefore  whosoever  slayeth  Cain, 
vengeance  shall  be  taken  on  him  sevenfold.  And  Jehovah  appointed  a 
sign  for  Cain,  lest  any   finding  him  should  smite  him. 

[•27e&.  opened  violently.] 

[■fMod.  Span.  Ver.,  mine  iniquity  Is  too  great  to  be  forgiven.] 

"And  Cain  told  his  brother  Abel";  that  is  he  told  him  what 
Jehovah  had  said.  More  correct  is  this  translation,  and  it  bet- 
ter suits  the  case,  than  "Cain  spalie  to  his  brother  Abel."  It 
seems  as  though  Cain  began  a  dispute  about  this  matter  with  his 
brother;  and  when  the  two  were  together  in  the  field,  he  rose 
up  against  his  brother  and  Ivilled  him. 

According  to  the  chronological  system  of  Ussher,  which  is 
found  in  our  Bibles,  this  happened  in  the  year  129  in  the  life  of 
Adam,  one  year  before  the  birth  of  Seth,  when  Cain  was  128 
years  old,  and  Abel  a  little  less.  But  it  is  impossible  to  believe 
that  Cain  and  Abel  should  have  lived  to  be  125  years  of  age 
without  being  married,  having  sisters  who  answered  for  this 
purpose,  and  there  being  urgent  necessity  to  populate  the  earth; 
according  to  the  first  command  which  God  laid  on  Adam  and 
Eve:  "Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and 
subdue  it."  Gen.  1:  28.  The  extreme  brevity  of  these  ancient 
histories  makes  it  impossible  to  determine  with  any  certainty 
points  of  this  nature;  but  I  believe  that  fifty  or  perhaps  eighty 
years  passed  between  the  death  of  Abel  and  the  birth  of  his 
"substitute,"  Seth,  in  which  time  many  children  were  born  to 
Adam  and  Eve.  To  believe  that  chapter  five  teaches  us  that  in 
those  ages  men  arrived  very  slowly  at  their  maturity,  and  mar- 
ried very  late  in  life, — as  at  100,  120  or  180  years  of  age,  is  an  ex- 
travagance; as  we  shall  see  in  the  following  chapter.  It  would  be 
as  proper  to  believe  that  Noah  did  not  marry  till  he  was  500  years 
of  age  (ch.  5:  22),  or  to  hold  for  certain  that  the  antediluvian 
sinners  passed  a  very  long  and  a  very  chaste  period  of  youth;  for 
in  Bible  language  to  "take  a  woman"  is  to  "take  a  wife." 

"We  note  here  the  insolence  with  which  the  murderer  replies 
to  the  interrogatory  of  Jehovah:  "Where  is  Abel  thy  brother?" 
It  is  always  the  natural  effect  of  sin  to  harden  the  heart,  and 
fill   it  with  arrogance  towards  God.     Jehovah  told  him  that  he 


56  GENESIS 

had  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  case,  and  said  that  the  shed 
blood  (Heb.  "bloods"=blood  unjustly  and  violently  shed)  of  his 
brother  was  crying  to  him  for  vengeance  from  the  ground, 
which  he  had  profaned  with  a  brother's  blood.  Comp.  Hgb. 
12:  24.  This  personification  of  the  blood  which  clamors  for 
vengeance  against  him  who  shed  it,  is  in  vr.  10  transferred  to 
the  earth,  or  ground,  outraged  by  the  innocent  blood  shed  upon  it 
(see  Num.  35:  33),  which  lifts  up  its  voice  in  energetic  protest, 
to  curse  him.  In  Numbers  16:  30  and  Deut.  11:  6,  the  same 
Hebrew  words  are  translated  in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version 
"the  earth  opened  with  violence  its  mouth",  when  the  ground 
clave  asunder  beneath  Korah,  Dathan  and  Abiram,  and  swal- 
lowed them  up  with  their  families;  and  according  to  the  lexicog- 
rapher Gesenius,  the  Hebrew  word  patsah  bears  in  its  very  form 
the  idea  of  violence.  In  this  case,  however,  the  violence  must 
be  of  a  moral  character;  as  if  against  its  will  and  with  utter 
repugnance,  the  earth  opened  its  mouth  to  receive  the  innocent 
blood  which  Cain  had  shed  upon  it.  In  vr.  12  the  personification 
is  carried  still  further, — signifying  that  the  earth  would  give 
him  an  unwilling  return  for  his  labor  as  a  cultivator  of  the 
soil,  and  indignant,  would  grudgingly  yield  him  its  fruit;  and 
he  should  become  a  fugitive  and  a  wanderer  upon  the  earth. 
Like  to  this  is  the  curse  which,  in  his  heart,  comes  to  every 
murderer,  from  that  day  to  this;  and  not  a  few  of  them  carry 
in  their  very  faces  "the  mark  of  Cain."    Vr.  15. 

The  reply  of  Cain  admits  perfectly  of  two  different  transla- 
tions, of  which  some  accept  the  one  and  some  the  other,  ac- 
cording to  what  they  consider  to  have  been  the  state  of  his 
mind.  In  the  alternative  translation,  which  is  given  in  the 
margin  of  the  Modern  Spanish  Version,  but  here  is  in  the  text, 
his  selfish  thought  is  always  turned  on  himself,  and  he  complains 
against  God  that  the  punishment  of  his  sin  is  excessive,  and 
beyond  his  power  to  endure  it.  But  a  literal  and  exact  transla- 
tion is  that  of  the  Spanish  text;  and  it  appears  to  me  to  indi- 
cate that  Cain,  seeing  at  last  the  irreparable  effects  of  his  crime, 
and  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  its  enormity,  and  knowing 
(as  every  murderer  must  know  it)  that  he  well  deserves  death 
as  a  satisfaction  to  offended  justice,  exclaims,  desperate,  but 
not  repentant;  "My  iniquity  is  too  great  to  be  forgiven!"  and 
believes  that  he  sees  in  every  person  he  meets  the  avenger  of 
his  crime.  I  take  it  that  this  is  the  likelier  sense,  and  more  ade- 
quate to  the  occasion.  Although  God  afterward  ordained  in- 
exorable pain  of  death  for  every  wilful  murderer,  in  this  case 
he  passed  it  by  (probably  in  view  of  the  very  scant  population 


CHAPTER  4:  8—15  57 

of  the  earth),  threatening  scvcn-i"old  punishment  on  any  one 
who  should  kill  Cain;  and  he  placed  a  certain  viark  on  him,  lest 
whoever  found  him  should  kill  him,  in  obedience  to  that  natural 
instinct  found  in  every  human  bosom,  in  all  lands,  and  from  the 
most  primitive  times, — the  innate  consciousness  that  the  mur- 
derer is   deserving  of  death.     See   Acts   28:  3 — 6. 

This  fear  of  Cain  furnishes  us  also  with  unquestionable  proof 
that  after  the  death  of  Abel  there  were  many  more  people  in 
the  world  besides  Adam,  and  Eve,  and  Cain.  The  fear  that 
haunted  him,  the  belief  that  every  one  who  met  him  would  wish 
to  kill  him,  was  not  a  fear  of  phantasms.  Although  nothing  has 
been  so  far  said  about  the  wife  of  Cain,  it  is  probable  that  fifty 
or  eighty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  creation  of  Adam  and  Eve 
(the  date  in  the  margin  of  our  Bibles  says  129);  and  it  is  cer- 
tain that  they  had  many  children,  and  even  grandchildren,  be- 
fore Seth  was  born  (in  the  line  of  the  promise),  when  Adam 
was  130  years  old.     Ch.  5:  3. 

[Note  10. — On  the  Death  of  Abel.  What  was  the  object  of  his 
faith  and  Jiis  hope?  It  is  a  horrible  truth  and  was  of  evil  omen 
for  the  coming  generations  of  our  race,  that  the  first  man 
born  into  the  world  was  a  murderer,  and  the  second  was  his 
victim.  What  prospect  then  of  any  good  remained  for  men  in 
such  a  world?  And  as  to  Abel's  future,  what  hope  was  there 
for  him,  and  of  him,  in  his  untimely  and  unlooked-for  death? 

Death  was  to  him,  and  to  all  others,  something  completely  un- 
known, since  he  was  the  first  of  the  race  to  die.  It  is  impos- 
sible, therefore,  that  the  expectation  of  "dying  and  going  home 
to  heaven"  (which  to  so  many  nowadays  is  about  the  sum  total 
of  the  promised  "salvation")  had  any  part  whatever  in  his  faith 
and  his  hope.  His  ideal  of  the  promised  deliverance  and  salva- 
tion would  almost  necessarily  be  that  of  restoration  to  the  happy 
condition  from  which  his  parents  had  fallen,  and  the  complete 
recovery  of  the  lost  favor  of  God;  and  his  faith,  in  order  to  he 
faith,  would  rest  necessarily  on  that  sure  first  promise  of  the 
Seed  of  the  Woman,  enlarged  no  doubt  with  verbal  explana- 
tions. Peter  tells  us  (Acts  3:21)  that  "Since  the  world  began* — 
and  therefore  before  the  death  of  Abel — God  had  spoken  by  the 
mouth  of  all  his  holy  prophets,  of  the  times  of  the  restoration 
of  all  things"',  tvhen  he  will  send  (the  second  time)  the  risen 
Jesus,  who  is  now  in  heaven:  so  that  the  hope  of  the  restoration 
of  the  lost  good,  would  perfectly  suit  the  case  of  Abel.     Nobody 

*The  American  Revision  translates  it,  "by  the  mouth  of  his  holy 
prophets  ihat  have  hccn  from  of  old";  but  Peter  certainly  means  to  say, 
SINCE  PEOPHECY  BEGAN  ;  and  therefore,  since  the  first  prophecy  and  prom- 
ise  icas  given.     Gen.  3  :  15. — Tr. 


58  GENESIS 

knew,  however  (nor  does  anybody  yet  know),  when  this  was  or 
is  to  be;  and  the  repeated  notices  that  we  have  of  the  hope  of 
Eve  (ch.  4:  1 — 25),  and  that  of  Lamech  (ch.  5:  29),  prove  that, 
just  as  the  first  Christians  waited  for  the  early  return  of  Christ 
in  power  and  glory,  so,  in  those  primitive  times,  men  looked 
for  the  early  advent  of  that  Seed  of  the  Woman,  who  was  to 
break  the  Serpent's  head.  And,  in  substance,  this  is  the  very 
hope  which  Christ  our  Lord  has  left  for  us  against  the  time  of 
his  return.  See  Rom.  16:  20:  "The  God  of  peace  shall  bruise 
Satan  under  your  feet  shortly".  In  Old  Testament  times,  it  was 
the  intermediate  condition  of  death  which  disquieted  the  hearts 
of  the  ancient  servants  of  God — that  unknown  state  of  being 
which  ensues  immediately  upon  death,  on  which  God,  neither 
then  nor  now,  has  desired  to  shed  more  than  a  very  little  light; 
involving  as  it  does  a  mystery  incomprehensible  to  mortal  men. 
That  intermediate  state,  therefore,  of  incorporeal  existence,  and 
not  the  final  inheritance  of  redemption,  of  glory  and  immortality, 
was  what  filled  them  with  doubts  and  uncertainty  (see  Job 
10:21,  22;  Ps.  6:5;  88:10—12;  Isaiah  38:18;  Ps.  49:15); 
just  as  would  happen  to  us,  if  Christ  by  his  death  and  resurrec- 
tion had  not  dissipated  great  part  of  the  darkness  of  the  grave. 

The  faith  of  Abel  was  set  on  God  as  his  Redeemer,  and  on 
the  sure  promise  which  he  had  given.  But  the  common  opinion 
is  certainly  ill-founded  that  the  pious  servants  of  God  believed 
then  in  a  Saviour  who  should  come  to  suffer  and  redeem  us 
with  his  blood,  just  as  we  believe  in  such  a  Saviour,  who  has 
already  come  and  suffered.  If  that  had  been  the  hope  of  the 
saints  of  the  Old  Testament,  it  is  morally  certain  that  John 
the  Baptist,  the  greatest  of  the  prophets,  as  Christ  says,  would 
also  have  looked  at  the  matter  from  this  point  of  view,  which  he 
did  not:  and  with  equal  facility  and  certainty  the  disciples  of 
our  Lord,  after  three  years  of  intimate  fellowship  with  him, 
would  have  readily  understood  (as  xce  are  repeatedly  told  they 
did  not)  his  frequent  declarations  that  it  was  necessary  for  him 
to  be  put  to  death  and  after  three  days  rise  again.  What  those 
ancient  worthies  looked  for  was  in  substance  what  the  New 
Testament  teaches  us  that  we  also  are  to  wait  for  at  the  coming 
of  Christ,  the  second  time,  in  "the  day  of  redemption",  for  the 
salvation  of  his  people  (Acts  1:6;  Eph.  4:  30;  Heb.  9:  28),  and 
the  saints  in  heaven  wait  for  it  more  truly  and  earnestly  than  we 
do  on  earth.  1  Pet.  1:4,  5,  7,  13;  4:  13;  Matt.  16:  27;  Acts 
3:20,  21;  Rom.  8:18—25;  1  Cor.  1:8,  9:  1  Thes.  1:9,  10.  I 
repeat,  therefore,  that  what  Peter  calls  "the  times  of  the  restora- 
tion   (or  restitution)    of  all   things",   expresses   better  than   any 


CHAPTER  4:  8—15  59 

Other  phrase,  the  hope  of  Abel — "restitution",  "restoration";  the 
which  we  also  wait  for,  but  with  a  distinct  hope  (which  for 
Abel  was  not  distinct)  of  passing  the  intermediate  time  of 
death  "with  Christ,  which  is  very  far  better"  (Phil.  1:  21,  23), 
while  he  also  waits,  seated  at  God's  right  hand; — "from  hence- 
forth expecting — waiting — till  his  enemies  be  made  his  foot- 
Btool".  Heb.  10:  13.  "The  hope  of  the  Gospel"  has  been  one 
and  the  same  thing  from  the  days  of  Abel  till  now;  although 
we  see  it,  or  ought  to  see  it,  with  greater  clearness  and  with 
far  greater  abundance  of  "exceeding  great  and  precious  prom- 
ises."  2  Pet.  1:  4.] 

[Tbanslatob's  Note  1. — On  the  Eschatology  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. In  regard  to  the  increasingly  important  matter  of 
Eschatology,  as  it  necessarily  comes  out  in  these  Studies,  it  will 
promote  a  good  understanding  between  the  reader  and  the  writer, 
to  say  at  once  that  he  has  no  novelties  to  propose  or  defend,  but 
holds  simply  and  sincerely  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Reformation  theology.  The  Christian  salvation,  in  all  its  gradual 
unfoldings,  has  been  one  and  the  same  in  all  the  ages  of  the  pres- 
ent, past  and  future.  Although,  as  the  apostle  says,  "the  way  into 
the  holiest  of  all  was  not  yet  made  manifest  while  the  first 
tabernacle  was  yet  standing"  (Heb.  9:  8) — that  is,  so  long  as  the 
Jewish  Dispensation  was  in  force  (Heb.  9:8);  the  obscurity  that 
in  the  conception  of  Old  Testament  saints  rested  on  "the  way," 
wrought  no  uncertainty  in  the  divine  procedure,  and  "the  souls  of 
believers  were  at  their  death  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and  did 
immediately  pass  into  glory"  then,  just  as  they  do  now; — be- 
fore Christ's  death,  just  the  same  as  after  it;  the  darkness  that 
rested  on  the  state  of  death,  under  the  Old  Testament,  was  not 
so  much  that  of  the  state  itself,  or  of  "the  way"  itself,  as  it 
was  the  darkness  of  apprehension  of  the  saints  then  living;  dark, 
as  it  would  be  to  us,  if  Christ  by  his  death  and  resurrection  had 
not  "brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  through  the  gospel." 
2  Tim.  1:  10.  The  obscure  and  hard  to  understand  is  always 
dark  to  us. 

The  proof  of  their  immediate  entrance  into  glory  is,  I  think, 
not  hard  to  find.  No  man  who  duly  considers  the  case  can  be- 
lieve that  He  who  requires  of  us  faith  in  his  divine  promises,  as 
the  one  great  condition  of  salvation,  would  himself  have  so  little 
confidence  in  his  own  purpose  and  performance,  that  he  should 
deny  to  "Abraham  his  friend"  and  to  the  other  Old  Testament 
saints  admittance  into  his  immediate  presence,  until  the  price 
of  their  redemption  had  been  actually  paid  on  Calvary's  Cross. 
This  is  in  fact  as  absurd  as  it  is  unreasonable,  in  speaking  of 


CO  GENESIS 

the  ever  living  Jehovah,  "the  high  and  holy  One  who  inhaMteth 
eternity'',  to  whom  the  past,  the  present  and  the  future — our 
past,  present  and  future — are  one  and  the  same  thing.  To  him 
necessarily,  by  the  laws  of  his  own  nature  and  his  (to  us)  in- 
comprehensible mode  of  being,  Christ  was,  without  a  figure  of 
speech,  "the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world". 
Rev.  13:  8.  Tlie  accepted  sacrifice  of  Calvary  was  to  him  as 
present  in  the  days  of  believing  Abel,  and  its  blood  as  efficacious, 
as  it  was  ever  going  to  be.  So  then,  there  was  nothing  for  him  to 
wait  for,  nor  any  reason  why  the  martyred  Abel  should  not  at 
once  have  the  benefit  of  it.  "His  place"  was  already  prepared. 
"The  dying  thief"  was  with  the  disembodied  hum^n  soul  of 
Jesus  "in  Paradise,"  before  that  eventful  evening's  sun  was  set 
(Luke  23:  43);  and  according  to  2  Cor.  12:  3,  4  and  Rev.  2:  7. 
"paradise"  is  "heaven,"  if  there  be  a  heaven.  According  to  the 
teachings  of  Christ  himself,  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and 
Jacob  "is  not  the  God  of  the  dead  but  of  the  living  {Gr.,  not  of 
dead  men  but  of  living  ones);  fob  all  live  unto  Him  (though 
dead  to  us  and  to  themselves  as  well),  to  whom  our  past  and 
future  are  eternally  present.  Luke  20:  38.  Their  dim  and 
doubtful  apprehension  of  the  "blessedness  of  the  dead  who  die  in 
the  Lord"  no  more  affected  the  reality  of  the  blessed  translation 
in  their  case,  than  do  the  distorted  and  erroneous  views  of 
godly  Roman  Catholics  now  send  them  to  "Purgatory"  rather 
than  to  Glory,  when  they  die.  Their  dimness  of  vision  had  no 
more  to  do  with  it  in  th.e  one  case  than  it  has  in  the  other. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  as  so  many  do 
forget,  that  the  holy  dead,  whether  under  the  Old  or  the  New 
Dispensation,  are  not  receiving  their  kingdom,  their  reward  and 
their  crown,  but  rather  waiting  for  them,  "with  Christ,"  while 
"he  waits,  till  his  foes  be  made  his  footstool."  Heb.  10:  13. 
Dead  men  do  not  wear  a  croivn  of  life;  nor  do  any  "reign  in  life 
with  Jesus  Christ,"  while  yet  "death  reigns"  over  their  mortal 
bodies.  Rom.  5:  14.  The  Bible  does  not  speak  after  that  fashion. 
The  holy  dead  wait  for  "the  day  of  redemption"  as  truly,  and 
no  doubt  far  more  earnestly  in  heaven,  than  we  do  here  on 
earth.  Paul  no  longer  "groans  within  himself,"  but  he  is  still 
"waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our  body." 
Rom.  8:  23.  See  also,  and  particularly,  Heb.  11:  39,  40,  where  the 
apostle  teaches  that  the  numberless  multitudes  of  the  holy 
dead  (vrs.  12,  13)  "received  not  the  promise;  God  having  pro- 
vided some  better  thing  for  us  [better  far  than  the  "heaven" 
of  the  departed],  that  they  (the  dead)  apart  from  us  (the  liv- 
ing)   should  not  be  made  perfect." 


CHAPTER  4:  8—15  Gl 

This  is  in  strict  accordance  with  Christ's  own  teaching:  — 
"The  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  with  his 
mighty  angels,  a7id  then  {but  not  till  then)  shall  he  render  to 
every  one — the  living  and  the  dead,  those  who  follow  him  and 
those  who  reject  him — according  to  their  deeds."  Matt.  16:  27. 
"Thou  shall  be  recompensed  at  the  resurrection  of  the  j^isf 
(Luke  14:  14) ;  and  the  saints,  whether  in  heaven  or  earth,  have 
of  course  to  wait  for  it  till  then;  and  no  wonder,  if  Christ  him- 
self is  waiting  on  his  Father's  throne,  for  his  kingdom,  his 
throne  and  the  day  of  his  power  and  glory!  Heb.  10:  13;  Rev. 
3:  21;  2  Tim.  4:  1.  The  Judge  of  the  living  and  the  dead  it  is 
who  teaches  us  that  "lohen  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his 
glory,  and  all  his  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the 
throne  of  his  glory,"  and  then  shall  he  bestow  "the  kingdom" 
on  the  just,  for  whom  it  "was  prepared  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world."  Matt.  25:  31,  34.  And  again,  he  teaches  that  it 
is  "when,  in  the  regeneration,  the  Son  of  7nan  shall  sit  upon  the 
throne  of  his  glory,"  that  all  who  have  suffered  the  loss  of  any- 
thing for  his  name's  sake  "shall  receive  an  hundred  fold,  and 
shall  inherit  eternal  life"  (Matt.  19:28,  29) :— "life"  in  Bible 
language,  as  well  as  in  our  own,  is  always  a  thing  of  bodily 
manifestation.  Paul  no  less  explicitly  teaches  that  "we  must  all 
— the  living  and  the  dead  alike,  saints  and  sinners  alike — appear 
(or  'be  manifested')  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  that 
every  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in  the  body,  according 
to  what  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad."  And  in  that 
last  "Revelation"  of  the  things  that  must  shortly  come  to  pass, 
which  he  sent  and  signified  unto  his  people  by  the  hand  of  his 
servant  John,  we  read  that  "ivhen  the  seventh  angel  sounded" 
(and  therefore  near  to  the  consummation  of  all  things)  it  is  said 
that  "the  nations  were  angry,  and  thy  wrath  is  come,  and  the 
time  of  the  dead,  that  they  should  be  judged,  arid  that  thou 
shouldst  give  their  reicard  unto  thy  servants  the  prophets,  and 
to  the  saints,  and  to  them  that  fear  thy  name,  both  small  and 
great;  and  shouldst  destroy  them  that  destroy  the  earth."  Rev. 
11:  15 — 18.  That  does  not  imply  that  the  holy  dead  lie  in 
unconscious  slumber  and  get  no  reward  till  then;  for  they  do 
(Luke  16:25;  23:43;  Phil.  1:21,  23);  yet  that  state  of  dis- 
embodied life  is,  as  Calvin  says,  an  abnormal  condition  of  be- 
ing, a  temporary  expedient,  which  "the  infinite  counsel  of  God 
has  devised,"  to  meet  the  special  case  of  those  who  must  needs 
die,  before  "the  day  of  redemption"  dawns.  Institutes,  Book 
in.  ch.  25,  Sec.  9.  But  it  does  imply  that  the  resurrection  unto 
the  life  everlasting  (Dan.  12:  2)  is  a  thousand  times  better,  and 


62  GENESIS 

as  far  transcends  the  "blessedness  of  the  dead  who  die  in  the 
Lord,"  as  life  itself  surpasses  death;  and  therefore  the  New 
Testament  says  little  about  it,  and  generally  leaves  it  out  of 
view.* 

Now  therefore,  as  God's  plan  of  the  human  redemption  is  one 
and  the  same  from  the  beginning,  and  as  "the  gospel  preached 
beforehand  unto  Abraham"  (Gal.  3:8)  was  identically  the  same 
gospel  that  is  preached  to  us,  so  also  I  believe  that  from  the 
days  of  holy  Abel,  the  salvation  of  the  disembodied  souls  of  God's 
people  was  identically  the  same  as  it  is  now;  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  "the  way  into  the  holiest  of  all  was  not  then  made  manifest" 
to  them,  as  it  is  now  to  us;  but  the  faith  of  God's  servants  in 
those  days  was  occupied  with  the  final  salvation,  rather  than 
with  the  shadowy  and  intermediate  state  of  death;  just  as  Peter 
says  our  own  ought  to  he  perpetually  occupied  with  "the  salva- 
tion ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time,"  and  with  the 
"praise,  honor  and  glory"  in  which  our  faith  is  to  issice  at  the 
appearing  of  Jesus  Christ.  1  Pet.  1:5,  7.  "We  are  fully  war- 
ranted, therefore,  in  tracing  the  faith  and  hope  of  that  salvation, 
however  faintly  discovered,  from  the  days  of  believing  Abel 
down  to  the  times  of  John  the  Baptist; — with  no  flights  of  fancy, 
be  it  understood,  but  according  to  what  is  written  in  the  Scrip- 
ture of  truth.  See  Job  19:  23—27;  Ps.  16:  6—11;  Isa.  26:  19—21. 
This  is,  in  my  view,  the  key  that  unlocks  this  mystery  of  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures;  and  the  gradual  unfolding  of  this  hope 
is  one  peculiarity  of  this  volume,  which  in  its  Spanish  form 
has  delighted  so  many,  both  among  the  missionaries  and  their 
converts.  The  author  is  neither  a  pre-millenarian  nor  a  post- 
millenarian,  and  will  leave  the  reader  in  undisputed  possession 
of  his  own  preferences  in  this  regard;!  but  I  think  that  he  will 
find  "a  more  excellent  way,"  if  he  will  habituate  himself  to 
leave  the  intermediate  possibilities  with  God,  who  is  well  able 
to  take  care  of  them,  and  duly  heed  Peter's  exhortation  to  his 
•About  all  that  the  New  Testament  teaches  as  to  the  state  of  the 
dead,  both  holy  and  unholy,  will  be  found  in  Luke  IG  :  22-'25  ;  23  :  43,' — 
the  sum  total  of  Christ's  recorded  personal  teaching ;  Acts  7  :  50,  5S  ;  2 
Cor.  5:1,  8;  12:4;  Thil.  1:21,  23;  Ileb.  6:12;  11:39,  40;  Jude  vr. 
7  ;  Rev.  14  :  13. 

tNeither  Luther,  Calvin,  Knox,  Samuel  Rutherford,  nor  Richard  Bax- 
ter found  any  place  for  "the  Millennium"  in  their  theology ;  and  I  do 
not  see  why  it  should  have  any  necessary  place  in  ours.  No  fulfilled 
prophecy  of  the  past  was  ever  accomplished  at  the  time  or  in  the  way 
the  godliest  of  men  expected ;  of  which  John  the  Baptist  is  perhaps 
the  most  conspicuous  example, — himself  a  prophet,  the  last,  and  in  some 
respects  the  greatest  of  them  all.  Matt.  11  :  11.  And  if  this  has  been 
an  unvarying  rule  in  the  past,  how  can  any  one  reasonably  expect  that 
it  will  not  be  so  in  the  future  as  well? 


CHAPTER  4:  16— 18  63 

readers:  "Gird  up  the  loins  of  your  mind,  be  sober,  and  set  your 
hope  perfectly  (R.  V.)  on  the  grace  that  is  to  "be  brought  unto 
you  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ;''  with  which  things  also 
he  says  that  the  prophets  were  chiefly  concerned,  who  prophesied 
of  the  grace  that  should  come  unto  us;  which  things  moreover  he 
says  that  "the  angels  desire  to  look  into."  1  Pet.  1:  10 — 13.  See 
also  Note  27,  on  "Sheol,"  or  "Hades,"  in  comment  on  ch.  37:  35.] 

4:     16 — 18.      THE    LINEAGE    OF    CAIN    nOWN    TO    LAMECH. 

(Of  uncertain  date.) 

16  And  Cain  went  out  from  the  presence  of  Jehovah,  and  dwelt 
in  the  land  of  Nod,*  on  the  east  of  Eden. 

17  And  Cain  knew  his  wife ;  and  she  conceived,  and  bare  Enoch : 
and  he  buildedf  a  city,  and  called  the  name  of  the  city,  after  the  name 
of  his  son,   Enoch. 

IS     And   unto   Enoch   was   born   Irad :   and   Irad   begat    Mehujael ; 
and  ilehujael  begat  Methushael :  and  Methusael  begat  Lamech. 
*T}wt  is.  Wandering.  [-fM.  S.  Y.,  was  building.] 

Cain  withdrew  at  once  from  the  presence  of  Jehovah.  That 
presence,  which  for  the  pious  servants  of  God  is  the  sum  of  all 
good  (Ps.  73:  28;  16:  11;  36:  7 — 9),  was  now  to  him  insupport- 
able. "The  presence  of  Jehovah"  would  seem  to  mean  in  this 
place  the  vicinity  and  view  of  the  cherubim,  and  of  the  altar 
that  stood  before  the  gate  of  paradise,  where  God  revealed  for  the 
first  time  his  mercy,  and  opened  to  sinning  men  a  "door  of  hope." 
Of  the  "land  of  Nod"  whither  Cain  withdrew,  we  know  nothing 
more  than  its  name  (which  signifies  Wanderer  or  Wandering), 
and  that  it  was  situated  on  the  "east  of  Eden;"  Cain  withdraw- 
ing as  far  as  he  could  from  the  presence  of  God  and  from  inter- 
course with  men. 

To  suppose  that  Cain  found  a  wife  in  the  land  of  Nod,  is  an 
extravagance.  He  doubtless  carried  her  with  him:  a  good  wife 
will  bear  with  a  wicked  husband  more  than  anybody  else  will. 
There  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  he  did  not  take  her  with  him, 
or  that  they  did  not  take  with  them  several  older  children.  It 
is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Cain  had  no  other  sons  except  this 
Enoch,  who  was  born  to  him  in  the  land  of  Nod;  who  is  not 
mentioned  as  his  only  son,  but  as  that  one  from  whom  the  city 
or  fort  which  Cain  was  building  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  took 
its  name;  and  also  with  the  object  of  presenting  to  us  those 
,  notable  descendants  of  his  with  whom  the  rest  of  the  paragraph 
is   occupied. 

Cain  undoubtedly  had,  as  Adam  did,  many  sons  and  daughters. 

[Note  11. — On  the  wife  of  Cain.  The  question  frequently 
asked  as  to  who  was  the  wife  of  Cain,  has  no  interest  or  im- 
portance, aside  from  the  allegation  that  the  fugitive  Cain  met 


64  GENESIS 

with  her  in  the  land  of  Nod;  and  the  consequent  inference  that 
there  were  in  the  days  of  Adam,  and  in  a  region  remote  from 
him,  another  race  or  races  of  men,  of  nature  so  identical  with 
his  own,  that  a  woman  of  that  stock  became  the  wife  of  Cain. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  altogether  probable  that  when  he  went 
into  the  land  of  Nod,  Cain  was  fifty  to  eighty  years  of  age; 
and  it  is  to  be  supposed  that  at  that  age  he  had  already  a  wife 
and  children,  that  wife  being  his  own  sister;  and  who  else  was 
he  to  have  for  wife,  if  Eve  was  the  "mother  of  all  the  living?" 
Ch.  3':  20.  To  us  there  is  something  repugnant  in  the  idea  of 
such  a  union;  but  in  the  beginning  of  the  race  it  was  not  so. 
In  Egypt,  where  there  was  no  lack  of  women,  it  was  the  usage 
of  the  Pharaohs,  the  kings  of  the  country,  and  still  later  of 
the  Ptolemies,  for  the  king  to  marry  his  own  sister.  And 
Abraham  said  without  repugnance  of  Sarah:  "Indeed  she  is 
my  sister,  the  daughter  of  my  father,  but  not  the  daughter  of 
my  mother;  and  she  became  my  wife."  Ch.  20:  12.  There  is 
nothing,  therefore,  strange,  or  in  itself  repugnant,  in  the  fact 
that  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam  and  Eve  should  have  mar- 
ried each  other,  for  the  lack  of  others  with  whom  to  marry.] 

When  therefore  a  son  was  born  to  Cain  in  the  land  of  Nod 
(who  without  being  his  only  son,  is  the  only  one  of  whom  we 
have  any  notice),  he  called  him  Enoch;  and  because  he  was 
building  at  the  time  "a  city,"  he  called  his  city  after  the  name 
of  his  son,  Enoch.  This  does  not  mean  to  say  that  Cain  had 
around  him  so  many  people  that  it  was  necessary  to  build  a 
city  to  accommodate  them;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  such  was 
the  dread  which  took  possession  of  his  guilty  soul,  after  killing 
his  brother,  that  not  even  when  he  had  withdrawn  as  far  as 
possible  from  the  society  of  men,  did  he  regard  himself  as  se- 
cure; and  so  he  at  once  set  about  to  build  a  stockade,  or  palisade, 
for  his  defense.  "City"  (Span,  "ciudad,'")  in  its  ancient  use 
and  signification  was  a  fortified  place,  as  still  is  seen  in  the  word 
ciudadela  (=  fortress);  or  in  English,  compare  cit]/  and  citadel. 
It  is  to  be  believed  also,  that  when  Cain  withdrew  from  paradise 
and  from  the  society  of  men,  the  wild  beasts  would  be  a  per- 
petual menace  to  him,  by  day  and  by  night;  and  his  "stockade" 
would  perhaps  serve  him  principally  as  a  defense  against  them. 

It  is  important  to  observe  here  the  Hebrew  usage  of  tracing 
descent  down  to  a  given  point  without  making  any  account  of 
the  collateral  lines.  Cain  had  many  children,  but  only  Enoch 
is  mentioned.  In  this  genealogical  table  there  are  five  generations 
of  Cain,  but  we  have  only  one  individual  in  each  generation,  un- 
til   we    come    to    Lamech    (Enoch,    Trad,    Mehujael,    Mathushael, 


CHAPTER  4:  19—24  65 

Lamech),— the  writer's  objective  point,  at  wliich  tlie  list  stops;  a 
notable  man  of  whom  Moses  had  something  important  to  relate. 

4:  19 — 24.    LAMECH.  polygaimy.  origin  of  the  arts,  poetry. 
(Of  uncertain  date;   perhaps  3500  b.  c.) 

19  And  Lamech  took  unto  him  two  wives :  the  name  of  the  one 
was  Adah,   and  the  name  of  the  other  Zillah. 

20  And  Adah  bare  Jabal :  he  was  the  father  of  such  as  dwell  in 
tents  and  have  cattle. 

21  And  his  brother's  name  was  Jubal :  he  was  the  father  of  all 
such  as  handle  the  harp  and  pipe. 

22  And  Zillah,  yhe  also  bare  Tubal-cain,  the  forger  of  every  cut- 
ting^instruraent  of  brass*  and  iron  :  and  the  sister  of  Tubal-cain  was 
Naamah. 

23  And  Lamech  said  unto  his  wives : 
Adah  and  Zillali,  hear  my  voice : 

Ye  wives  of  Lamech,  hearken  unto  my  speech : 
For  I  have  slain  a  man  for  wounding  me, 
And  a  youns   man   for  bruising   me : 

24  If  Cain  shall  bo  avenged  sevenfold. 
Truly  Lamech  seventy  and  sevenfold. 

*0r,   copper. 

Lamech,  the  great  grandson  of  the  grandson  of  Cain,  began 
the  practice  of  polygamy  by  taking  two  wives.  "Wherever  polyg- 
amy exists,  the  more  powerful  and  influential  men  taking 
for  themselves  a  plurality  of  wives,  many  men  must  necessarily 
have  to  go  without  any.  Paul  says,  by  the  Holy  Spirit:  "To 
avoid  fornications,  let  every  man  have  his  own  wife  and  every 
woman  her  own  hushand."  1  Cor:  7:  2.  This  was  undoubtedly 
the  purpose  of  God  in  creating  only  one  woman  for  only  one 
man;  as  Jesus  explains  the  case  in  opposition  of  the  Judaic  usage 
of  putting  away  one  wife  to  take  another,  in  Mat.  19:  4 — 6:  — 
Only  one  woman  for  one  man  only.  The  prophet  Malachi  (ch. 
2:  15),  who  saw  the  thing  at  its  worst,  speaks  to  the  same 
effect:  "And  did  he  not  make  one,  although  he  had  the  residue 
of  the  spirit  (or  vital  breath)?"  One  of  each  sex  did  God  make, 
and  these  two  he  made  "one  flesh,"  although  he  had  a  super- 
abundance of  vital  breath  to  make  many  women  for  only  one 
man.f  And  this  continues  still  his  purpose,  as  it  is  seen  in  that 
particular   providence,   which   in   all   ages   and   in  all   countries, 

tPolygamy,  so  common  in  all  Oriental  countries,  both  in  ancient  and 
modern  times,  and  among  pagan  peoples  generally,  was  gradually  ex- 
tinguished among  the  Hebrews  by  the  operation  of  the  Mosaic  law  and 
subsequent  divine  revelations,  and  seems  to  have  been  completely  super- 
seded in  the  days  of  Christ  by  the  more  convenient  system  of  putting  away 
one  wife  to  take  another.  It  is  never  once  mentioned  or  referred  to  in 
the  New  Testament.  Among  the  Greeks  and  Romans  (and  European 
peoples  generally),  polygamy  seems  never  to  have  existed;  but  wives  were 
put  away,  or  got  rid  of,  for  very  trifling  causes,  or  for  none ;  just  as 
in  China  or  .Tapan  today. — Tr. 


66  GENESIS 

ordains,  and  always  has  ordained,  that  the  births  of  the  two 
sexes  be,  on  an  average,  in  equal  number,  one  half  male  and 
one  half  female;  the  males  having  a  certain  excess,  since  a 
larger  number  of  them  die  in  wars  and  by  accidents,  in  which 
men  suffer  more  than  women.  Most  admirable  providence,  where 
we  do  as  it  were  see  the  very  hand  of  God  interposed!  for 
as  there  are  families  in  which  all  are  born  males,  and 
families  in  which  all  are  born  females,  this  persistent  equality 
of  the  sexes  in  the  aggregate,  God  alone  is  able  to  maintain. 
And  universal  observation  proves  that  the  human  species  most 
rapidly  increases  where  that  primordial  disposition  of  Heaven  is 
best  regarded  — only  one  man  for  one  wovian  only,  and  07ily  one 
woman  for  one  man  only. 

The  scarcity  of  women,  and  not  the  good  morals  of  the  men, 
prevented,  for  six  generations,  the  usage  of  having  a  plurality 
of  wives.  But  at  last  Lamech,  of  the  family  of  Cain,  introduced 
it,  when  he  took  two  wives,  Adah  and  Zillah;  beautiful  women, 
it  is  to  be  supposed  from  their  names;  the  former  meaning 
"Beauty,"  and  the  latter,  "Shade" — something  delicious  in  a 
warm  country.  Nor  is  it  to  be  supposed  in  this  case  that  Adah 
had  no  more  than  two  sons,  nor  Zillah  more  than  one.  The 
sacred  writer  omits  all  the  other  children  in  order  to  fix  at- 
tention on  these  three,  famous  in  their  day,  as  persons  with 
whom  wealth  and  the  mechanical  and  fine  arts  had  their  origin. 
Jabal  was  the  first  who  was  a  keeper  of  cattle  on  a  large  scale; 
which  is  the  real  signification  of  "father  of  such  as  dwell  in 
tents  and  have  cattle" — something  very  different  from  the  humble 
office  of  Abel.  His  brother  Jubal,  another  son  of  Adah,  was  the 
"father  of  all  such  as  handle  the  harp  and  the  pipe;"  which, 
in  Hebrew,  means  that  he  was  the  originator  of  instrumental 
music  and  a  teacher  of  it.  Comp.  2  Chron.  2:  13;  4:  16,  there 
"my  father,"  and  "his  father"  mean  architect  or  master  Guilder. 

The  son  of  Zillah — the  only  one  who  is  mentioned — was  Tubal- 
cain,  more  famous  still,  a  worker  in  iron  and  in  copper  (or 
brass,  which  is  the  same  in  Hebrew),  and  who  was  the  in- 
ventor of  all  kinds  of  cutting  instruments,  made  of  these  metals.* 
So  that  the  mechanical  and  fine  arts,  and  the  possession  of 
material  riches  began  among  the  Cainites;  while  the  descendants 
of  the  pious  Seth  and  the  humble  Enosh,  who  were  "called  by 
the  name  of  Jehovah,"  remained  in  a  mediocrity  of  temporal 
blessings,  maintaining  the  simple  customs  of  their  forefathers. 

♦As  cutting  instruments  were  not  made  of  brass,  copper  is  what  Is 
Intended  here.  The  ancient  Egyptians  used  an  alloy  of  copper  (of  which 
the  composition  has  been  lost),  said  by  some  to  be  superior  even  to  the 
best  of  our  steel,  especially   for  worliing  in  stone. — Tr. 


CHAPTER  4:  25,  2C  67 

The  sister  of  Tubal-cain  would  seem  from  this  mention  to 
have  been  a  celebrated  woman  in  her  day,  of  whom  there  re- 
mains to  us  only  the  memory  of  her  name — Naamah  (=  Sweet- 
ness).     So    pass    away   the   glories   of   this    world! 

Vrs.  23,  24,  besides  the  fact  which  they  relate,  are  interesting 
on  account  of  their  poetry — the  beginning  of  the  art;  which  also, 
like  all  ancient  poetry  was  a  song;  and  the  musical  instruments 
of  his  son  Tubal  would  serve  him  as  accompaniment.  And  this 
first  song  celebrated  a  murder,  which  the  singer  had  committed, 
perhaps  with  one  of  the  keen  edged  instruments  which  another 
of  his  sons,  Tubal-cain,  had  made;  and  in  point  of  arrogance 
and  cold-blooded  insensibility,  it  leaves  far  behind  the  crime  of 
Cain.  The  words  may  be  understood  either  as  a  bravado,  to 
celebrate  his  prowess,  or,  as  given  in  the  text,  as  implying  that 
he  committed  it  in  revenge  for  some  injury  done  to  his  own 
person.  And  the  impious  wretch  claims  a  divine  protection  ten 
times  more  sure  than  that  which  God  had  granted  to  Cain  in 
order  not  to  paralyze  the  movement  of  population  in  the  world, 
at  a  time  when  it  was  almost  uninhabited.  A  sad  promise  does 
this  Lamech  give  of  the  times  of  violence  that  were  fast  coming 
upon  the  earth.  If  the  generations  of  Cain  corresponded  with 
those  of  Seth  in  ch.  5  (which  is  not  to  be  supposed,  as  these 
were  not  genealogies  of  first-born  sons,  but  of  the  sons  who  came 
in  the  line  of  the  promise)  Tubal-cain  would  have  been  a  contem- 
porary of  holy  Enoch,  "the  seventh  from  Adam"  (Jude,  verse  21), 
in  whose  days  the  impiety  of  the  earth  was  reaching  its  culminat- 
ing point.  The  cutting  instruments  of  copper  and  iron  which 
Tubal-cain  invented,  were  a  great  blessing  for  men  in  the 
rude  conflict  which  they  then  sustained  with  the  elements  and 
the  wild  beasts  (which  must  have  been  exceedingly  numerous 
and  very  defiant  in  those  days),  and  also  to  clear  the  land, 
and  aid  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil;  but  in  malevolent  hands 
they  inaugurated  that  epoch  "of  violence  of  which  the  earth 
was  full"  in  the  days  of  Noah.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  "the  age 
of  stone,"  of  which  geologists  say  so  much  in  our  day,  and 
often  so  erroneously,  was,  according  to  Moses,  the  condition  of 
the  world  from  the  fall  of  Adam  till  Tubal-cain;  and  with  him 
began  "the  age  of  iron."  It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  in  vr.  22, 
instruments  of  copper  seem  to  take  precedence  of  those  of  iron. 

4:  25,  26.     seth,  heir  of  the  promise,  is  givex  in  the  place  of 

ABEL,    till   then   VACANT.      (3874    B.    C.) 

25  And  Adam  knew  his  wife  again ;  and  she  bare  a  son,  and 
called  his  name  Soth :  For,  said  slic,  God  hath  appointed  me  an- 
other seed  instead  of  Abel ;  for  Cain  slew  him. 


G8  GENESIS 

20  And  to  Setb,  to  him  also  there  was  born  a  son  ;  and  ho  called 
his  name  Enosh.  Then  began  men  to  call  upon  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah.* 

l*Mocl.  Span.  Vcr.j  to  call  themselves  by  tlie  name  of  Jehovah."  Ch. 
G  :  2  ;  2  Chron.  7  :  14  ;  Isa.  43:7;  44  :  5  ;  63  :  19  ;  Dan.  9  :  19  ;  Eph.  3  :  15, 
10;  Acts  11 :  20.] 

These  events  took  place  during  130  years.  Ch.  5;  3.  It  is  to  be 
believed  that  "Abel  the  just,"  the  first  •f  the  heroes  of  faith 
(Heb.  11:  4),  vs^ould  also  have  been  the  first  in  the  line  of  the  prom- 
ise of  redemption,  had  not  the  fratricidal  hand  of  Cain  quenched 
this  "light  of  the  world"  (Matt.  5:  13,  14);  and  the  other  sons 
and  daughters  of  Adam,  it  seems,  walked  in  corruption  and  dark- 
ness, following  the  godless  example  of  Cain;  for  which  reason, 
they  are  conveniently  called  Cainites,  even  though  they  were  not 
personally  his  descendants.  Adam  and  Eve  saw  with  bitterness 
of  soul  the  immediate  and  terrible  results  of  their  apostasy  from 
God;  and,  if  in  fact  they  themselves  were  the  possessors  of 
genuine  evangelical  repentance,  so  as  to  truly  turn  to  God,  un- 
doubtedly they  continually  cried  to  him  in  the  calamitous  times, 
that  so  early  had  come  to  supplant  the  delightful  days  of  Eden; 
as  seems  to  be  indicated  in  vrs.  25  and  26.  Eve,  with  the  heart 
of  a  mother,  w^as  still  lamenting  the  loss  of  the  pure  and  gentle 
Abel,  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  and  she  accepted  the  birth 
of  Seth  as  a  special  gift  of  God,  besought,  perhaps,  from  Jehovah 
with  anxious  desire;  as  Samuel  was  in  after  days.  .1  Sam.  1:  27. 
She  therefore  named  him  Seth  (=  Substitution)  saying:  "Be- 
cause God  has  given  me  another  seed  instead  of  Abel  whom 
Cain  slew."  As  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  Eve  had  other  sons, 
younger  than  Abel  (and  if  Abel  was  as  much  as  fifty  or  sixty 
years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death,  many  other  sons),  her  words 
"another  seed  instead  of  Abel,"  would  seem  to  manifest  clearly 
that  she  was  looking  to  the  promise  of  "the  Seed  of  the  Woman," 
frustrated  by  the  death  of  Abel,  but  which  at  last  lived  again 
with  the  birth  of  Seth.  Of  Cain  and  his  impious  race,  and  of 
his  imitators,  it  is  clear  that  she  had  no  longer  any  hope  what- 
ever. Seen  in  this  light,  two  classes  of  persons,  and  even  two 
distinct  races,  rise  conspicuously  into  view  from  the  beginning 
of  the  history  of  mankind, — a  distinction  which  Paul  traces  in 
the  family  of  Abraham  himself,  "between  him  that  was  born 
after  the  flesh"  and  "him  that  was  born  through  promise"  (Gal. 
4:23);  and  also  in  the  family  of  Isaac,  between  "the  children 
of  the  flesh"  and  the  "children  of  the  promise."  Rom.  9:  8. 
With  rare  delight  Eve  received  Seth  as  a  "child  of  the  promise" 
— a  "substitute  for  Abel,  whom  Cain  slew." 

The  name  of  "Enosh,"  the  son  of  Seth,  is  significant,  meaning 


CHAPTER  4:  25,  26  69 

"feeble  man,"  "mortal,"  "weakly,"  etc.;  a  name  which  may  have 
had  something  to  do  with  him  personally;  or  according  to 
others,  with  the  character  of  the  race,  which  had  now  very 
clearly  revealed  itself;  just  as  David  composed  a  Psalm  "on  the 
prevailing  sickness"  ("upon  Mahalath"),  in  order  to  set  forth 
the  general  impiety  of  men.  See  Alexander  on  Ps.  53,  title. 
We  know  nothing  of  his  individual  character,  which  some  Jewish 
rabbis  hold  in  ill-esteem,  he  being,  as  they  say,  the  author  or 
promoter  of  idolatry — of  which  nothing  is  said  in  the  text;  and 
it  seems  to  me  probable  that  material  idolatry  began  after  the 
deluge  and  not  before;  for  those  were  times  of  Impiety,  of 
sensuality  and  of  violence,  of  oppression  and  bloodshed,  rather 
than  of  idolatry.  Enpsh  was  not  the  only  son  of  Seth,  nor  neces- 
sarily the  first-born  son,  but  he  came  in  line  of  the  promise — 
the  line  of  the  descent  of  the  covenant.  In  this  history  "the 
covenant"  is  mentioned  first  in  the  case  of  Noah  (Gen.  6:  18); 
but  the  manner  in  which  it  is  mentioned  takes  for  granted  its 
previous  existence;  and  since  "the  covenant"  is  equivalent  to 
"the  promise,"  which  likewise  existed  without  being  called  by 
that  name,  I  shall  continue  to  use  the  two  terms  in  this  equiva- 
lent sense.  In  no  part  of  this  book  is  anything  said  about  the 
covenant  made  with  Adam;  but,  nevertheless  it  existed,  accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  the  prophet  Hosea,  who  speaks  of  It  as 
a  matter  well  known  in  his  day,  "that  Adam  transgressed  the 
covenant.'^  Hos.  6:  7,  R.  V.  And  although  neither  covenant  nor 
promise  of  redemption  is  mentioned  after  the  fall,  everybody  con- 
fesses the  existence  of  the  latter,  and  there  is  no  less  reason  to 
confess  the  former,  in  the  light  of  the  chapters  which  treat  of 
Abraham,  and  thenceforward;  and  also  in  the  light  of  the  con- 
trast which  Paul  institutes  between  Adam  and  Christ,  in  Rom.  5: 
12 — 19,  and  that,  without  mention  of  either  covenant  or  promise. 
"We  incline  to  the  belief  also  that  Enosh  was  one  of  those 
"poor  in  spirit  (and  pure  in  heart)  of  whom  is  the  kingdom  of 
God,"  because  of  the  circumstance  mentioned  in  the  text,  that 
in  his  days  began  the  usage  of  men's  "calling  themselves  by  the 
name  of  Jehovah"  (Modern  Span.  Version).  This  phrase,  it  is 
true,  is  translated  in  different  ways.  Those  who  blacken  the 
name  and  character  of  Enosh,  understand  it  that  in  those  days 
men  began  to  profane  the  name  of  Jehovah  with  idolatrous  prac- 
tices:— a  sense  which  it  is  hard  to  extract  from  the  words. 
Others  prefer  to  say:  "Then  men  began  to  call  upon  the  name 
of  Jehovah."  While  this  is  a  very  ordinary  sense  of  the  Hebrew 
words,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  its  appropriateness  here.  Since  prayer 


70  GENESIS 

is  at  least  as  old  as  sacrifice;  so  that  those  who  contend  for  this 
sense  qualify  it  to  mean  in  public  assemblies.  Others  still  will 
have  it  mean  "to  proclaim  the  name  of  Jehovah," — in  public 
assemblies  also.  But  the  Modern  Spanish  Version  is  in  full 
accord  with  the  Hebrew  text;  and  it  gives,  as  does  the  old 
Valera  Version,  the  most  satisfactory  sense.  Consult  the  refer- 
ences. It  is  given  also,  in  the  margin  of  our  English  Bible,  as 
an  alternative  rendering:  "Then  began  men  to  call  themselves 
(or  to  be  called)  by  the  name  of  Jehovah."  "We  have  already 
seen  that  before  the  birth  of  Enosh  there  were  found  two  dis- 
tinct classes  of  people,  and  even  two  different  races  of  men,  in 
the  world,  conveniently  named  Cainites  and  Sethites;  and  here 
we  are  informed  that  in  the  days  of  Enosh  the  race  of  the 
pious  Seth  (as  we  understand  it)  began  to  call  themselves  (or 
to  be  called)  by  a  characteristic  name;  taking  for  their  distinc- 
tive badge  the  venerable  name  of  Jehovah;  already  cast  aside 
and  despised  by  the  impious  Cainites;  as  also  by  the  worldly  and 
wicked  of  today.  This  sense  also  gives  the  most  satisfactory  ex- 
planation of  the  distinction  made  in  ch.  6:2  between  the  "sons 
of  God"  and  the  "daughters  of  men."  In  Isa.  43:  7;  44:  5;  48:  1; 
65:  1,  we  have  just  this  use  of  the  words.  And  Daniel  beseeches 
God  that  he  will  hasten  to  have  mercy  upon  them,  because  "thy 
city  and  thy  people  are  called  by  thy  name."  Dan.  9:  19.  Very 
frequent  is  this  usage  in  the  Old  Testament;  and  in  the  New  we 
find  the  same  thing,  where  the  disciples  of  Christ  were  called  by 
his   name,   "Christians."     Acts   11:  2G. 

Most  interesting  and  important  it  is  to  keep  always  present  in 
our  minds  that,  from  the  beginning  of  the  history  of  human  re- 
demption, there  has  existed  this  distinction  between  the  good 
and  the  evil  (in  a  spiritual  sense),  between  saints  and  sinners, 
between  those  that  fear  God  and  those  who  make  no  account  of 
him.  Mai.  3:  18.  To  blot  out  the  distinction,  then,  is  to  sin 
grievously  against  Him  who  says,  "/  will  put  enmity  be- 
tween thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed." 
Ch.  3:  15. 

CHAPTER  V. 

VBS.     1 — 20.       THE    DESCENDANTS     OF     ADAM,     IN     THE     TIME    OF    THK 

PROMISE,  DOWN  TO  ENOCH.      (From  4004  until  2582  b.  c.) 

1  This  is  the  book  of  the  generations  of  Adam.  In  the  day  that 
God  created  man,  in  the  likeness  of  God  made  he  him ; 

2  male  and  female  created  he  them,  and  blessed  them,  and  called 
their  name  Adam,  in  the  day  when  they  were  created. 

3  And  Adam  lived  a  hundred  and  thirty  years,  and  begat  a  son 
in  his  owii  likeness,  after  his  image ;  and  culled  his  name  Seth : 


CHAPTER  5:  1—20  71 

4  and  the  days  of  Adam  after  he  begat  Seth  were  eight  hundred 
years :  and  he  bogat  sons  and   daughters. 

5  And  all  the  days  that  Adara  lived  were  nine  hundred  and  thirty 
years  :  and  he  died. 

G     And  Seth  lived  a  hundred  and  five  years,  and  begat  Enosh  : 

7  and  Seth  lived  after  he  begat  Enosh  eight  hundred  and  seven 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters  : 

8  and  all  the  days  of  Seth  were  nine  hundred  and  twelve  years: 
and  he  died. 

!)     And  Enosh  lived  ninety  years,  and  bogat  Kenan  : 

10  and  Enosh  lived  after  he  begat  Kenan  eight  hundred  and  fifteen 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters  : 

11  and  all  the  days  of  Enosh  were  nine  hundred  and  five  years : 
and  he  died. 

12  And  Kenan  lived  seventy  years,  and  begat  Mahalalel : 

13  and  Kenan  lived  after  he  begat  Mahalalel  eight  hundred  and 
forty  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters  : 

14  and  all  the  days  of  Kenan  were  nine  hundred  and  ten  years : 
and  he  died. 

15  And  Mahalalel  lived  sixty  and  five  years,  and  begat  Jared  : 

16  and  Mahalalel  lived  after  he  begat  Jared  eight  hundred  and 
thirty  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters : 

17  and  all  the  days  of  Mahalalel  were  eight  hundred  ninety  and 
five  years  :  and  he  died. 

18  And  Jared  lived  a  hundred  sixty  and  two  years,  and  begat 
Enoch : 

19  and  Jared  lived  after  he  begat  Enoch  eight  hundred  years,  and 
begat  sons  and  daughters  : 

20  and  all  the  days  of  Jared  were  nine  hundred  sixty  and  two 
years :  and  he  died. 

Chapter  5  is  occupied  with  a  list,  or  genealogical  table  of  the 
descendants  of  Adam,  in  the  line  of  the  promise — the  line  of 
Christ  (Luke  3:  3G— 38)— the  promised  Seed  of  the  Woman, 
Saviour  of  his  people,  and  Liberator  of  the  world,  down  to  Noah, 
an  eminent  type  of  him.  It  is  to  be  noted  in  vr.  2  that  "Adam" 
was  the  name  of  the  race,  and  so  it  is  used  very  often,  par- 
ticularly in  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes  (ch.  1:  3;  3:  11 — 22),  and  not 
alone  of  the  head  and  father  of  it. 

It  is  important  to  fix  attention  upon  the  omission  of  two 
well  known  names,  Cain  and  Abel,  and  of  several  unknown  per- 
sons who  come  before  and  after  that  of  Seth.  In  this  list  no 
account  is  made  of  them,  exclusive  attention  being  given  to  that 
son  who  came  in  the  line  of  the  promise  of  redemption.  By 
the  failure  to  notice  this  circumstance,  many  have  fallen  into 
the  error  of  believing  that  the  antediluvians  either  arrived  very 
late  at  their  maturity,  or  for  unknown  causes  married  at  a  very 
advanced  age;  for  neither  of  which  inferences  does  there  exist 
a  vestige  of  proof.  Adam  did  not  arrive  late  at  his  maturity, 
nor  did  he  marry  late;  but  he  had  Seth  when  130  years  of  age; 
and  there  does  not  exist  any  more  reason  for  saying  so  with 
regard  to  Seth  and  the  other  antediluvians  (and  notably  of 
Noah,  see  vr.  32),  than  there  is  in  the  case  of  Adam  and  Noah. 


72  GENESIS 

In  vr.  1,  we  are  reminded  of  what  is  said  in  ch.  1:  26,  27,  that 
Adam  and  Eve  were  created  in  the  likeness  and  image  of  God. 
But  they  had  "transgressed  the  covenant"  (Hos.  6:7);  they 
were  now  fallen  beings,  mortal,  sinners;  and  into  that  likeness 
we  are  told  in  vr.  3  that  at  130  years  of  age  Adam  "begat  a 
son  in  his  own  likeness,  and  after  his  image."  Seth,  then,  was 
born,  in  the  new  and  fallen  image  and  likeness  of  his  father; 
and  such  have  all  his  posterity  been  born;  fallen,  mortal,  sin- 
ners. The  same  thing  was  true  of  Cain  and  Abel;  but  the  sacred 
writer  reserved  the  declaration  for  this  place,  as  more  agreeable 
to  his  design,  on  treating  formally  of  the  descendants  of  Adam 
in  the  line  of  the  promise. 

The  sum  total  of  the  years  of  Adam  was  930  years;  of  Seth', 
912;  of  Enosh,  905,  84  of  which  he  passed  contemporaneously  with 
Noah,  according  to  the  Hebrew  chronology.  The  sum  total 
of  Methuselah's,  the  oldest  of  men,  was  969,  he  dying  in  the 
600th  year  of  Noah,  the  year  of  the  flood, — according  to  the 
common  chronology;  in  which  case  his  longevity  was  a  doubtful 
blessing.  Lamech,  the  father  of  Noah,  lived  777  years,  and 
"died  before  his  time,"  it  was  said  in  his  day;  but  it  was  five 
years   before  Noah   entered   the  ark. 

[Note  12. — 07i  Biblical  Chrotwlogy.  We  say  "according  to  the 
common  chronology,"  which  is  that  of  Ussher,  founded  on  the 
Hebrew  text.  But  the  Samaritan  text  (of  the  five  books  of 
Moses,  the  only  ones  which  the  Samaritans  admitted),  contains 
some  very  remarkable  variations  from  the  Hebrew  text;  and  the 
Greek  translation,  called  that  of  "the  LXX,"  and  executed  be- 
tween the  year  280  and  150  B.  C,  followed  in  general  by  the 
Jewish  historian  Josephus,  has  the  Hebrew  chronology  com- 
pletely altered  in  this  chapter,  with  the  exception  of  Jared  and 
Noah.  The  alteration  consists  in  adding  100  years  to  the  age  at 
which  each  one  had  the  son  mentioned,  and  taking  away  the 
same  number  from  the  years  that  he  lived  afterwards.  It  seems 
to  me  that  all  this  was  done  with  a  deliberate  purpose  of  remov- 
ing some  grave  difficulties  which  are  found  in  the  Hebrew  text; 
as  the  reader  will  have  already  noticed  in  the  case  of  Methuselah 
and  Lamech.  By  adding  to  these,  100  years  before  the  birth 
of  the  first  son  mentioned  in  the  list,  and  taking  away  100  years 
afterwards,  Methuselah  would  come  to  die  100  years  before  the 
fiood  and  Lamech  105.  The  object  of  adding  and  taking  away 
100  years  in  the  case  of  Adam  (making  it  so  that  he  was  230 
years  old  when  Seth  was  born),  seems  to  have  been  that  of  ob- 
serving a  certain  ratio  of  equality  between  Adam  and  the  rest; 
making  it  appear,  perhaps,  that  he  also  was  one  hundred  years 


CHAPTER  5:  1—20  73 

old  before  he  had  his  first  son,  Cain,  and  230  when  Seth  was 
born,  preserving  the  130  years  of  the  Hebrew  text  as  interposed 
between  the  two.  In  the  case  of  Jared  and  of  Noah,  the  Hebrew 
text  already  made  the  one  to  be  162  and  the  other  500  when  the 
first  son  mentioned  was  born;  and  there  was  no  cause  to  add 
anything  more  in  their  case.  But  whatever  may  have  been 
the  object  of  making  them,  these  discrepancies  exist  not  only 
here,  but  in  the  corresponding  list  in  ch.  11:  11 — 26,  where  there 
seems  to  have  existed  the  analogous  difficulty  of  believing  that 
the  Hebrew  text  did  not  grant  sufficient  time  between  the  deluge 
and  the  calling  of  Abraham,  but  only  427  years.  Since,  then, 
"the  LXX  interpreters"  were  Egyptian  Jews  and  perfectly  cog- 
nizant of  the  long  periods  claimed  for  the  twenty-six  or  more 
dynasties  of  the  kings  of  that  country,  they  not  only  added  586 
to  the  1656  years  which  the  Hebrew  text  gives  before  the  deluge 
(making  that  period  2242  years  instead  of  1656),  but  they  added 
100  years  again  to  the  35  years  at  which  Arphaxad  had  his 
first  mentioned  son,  and  insert  between  Arphaxad  and  Selah, 
the  name  of  Cainan  with  130  years  (which  is  only  given  in  the 
LXX  and  in  the  Greek  of  Luke  3:  37,  which  cites  it  from  the 
LXX),  and  they  go  on  adding  uniformly  100  years  to  the  given 
age  of  Selah,  of  Heber,  of  Peleg,  of  Reu,  of  Serug;  and  150  to 
that  of  Nahor,  making  out  that  instead  of  29  he  was  179  years  old 
when  Terah  was  born.  As  Terah  was  130  years  old  when 
Abraham  was  born  (see  comment  on  verse  26),  nothing  is 
added  in  his  case.  In  this  way,  and  showing  so  manifestly  the 
purpose  of  gaining  time,  they  make  it  appear  that,  instead  of 
there  being  427  years  between  the  deluge  and  the  calling  of 
Abraham,  at  75  years  of  age,  there  were  1307 — a  difference  of 
887  years.  Joining  together  the  two  periods,  we  have,  according 
to  the  Hebrew  text  2083  years  between  the  creation  of  Adam 
and  the  calling  of  Abraham,  and  3549  according  to  the  LXX;  a 
difference  of  1466  years. 

Chronology  is  always  and  of  itself  a  very  difficult  matter;  and 
all  the  more,  because  the  ancients  paid  very  little  regard  to  it, 
having  no  common  and  determined  epoch  from  which  to  compute 
it;  the  classical  authors  were  even  more  careless  in  this  regard 
than  the  sacred  writers.  We  moderns,  on  the  contrary,  lay  great 
stress  on  chronology,  and  especially  on  the  correct  temporal  se- 
quence of  events,  to  which  the  ancients  ordinarily  paid  very  lit- 
tle attention.  Chronology  is  almost  a  modern  science.  It  is 
therefore  unreasonable  to  complain  that  the  Bible  does  not  con- 
form in  this  to  our  modern  usage.  What  comes  to  increase  the 
difficulties   of   biblical    chronology   is   the   circumstance   that   In 


74  GENESIS 

the  ancient  Hebrew  manuscripts  the  exact  notation  and  preserva- 
tion of  numbers  was  almost  an  impossibility,  these  being  indi- 
cated by  letters  of  the  alphabet,  and  by  combinations  of  these 
letters;  the  tens  and  hundreds  being  varied  by  means  of  par- 
ticular accents  which  were  added  to  the  letters. 

The  effect,  therefore,  of  these  variations  of  the  Greek  text 
and  of  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  and  of  the  different  systems  of 
chronology  founded  on  them,  has  made  it  impossible  to  (ieter- 
mine  with  any  degree  of  precision  the  age  of  the  world  from 
the  creation  of  Adam  to  the  present  time.  The  principal  diffi- 
culty rests  upon  the  period  before  the  calling  of  Abraham.  Prom 
then  to  the  present  (excepting  the  time  of  the  sojourn  of  the 
people  of  Israel  in  Egypt),  they  are  few,  and  the  difficulties  of 
very  little  importance;  and  these  are  due  almost  exclusively  to 
errors  of  transcription. 

With  this  explanation,  we  shall  govern  ourselves  ordinarily 
by  the  common  chronology,  not  as  being  accurate,  for  it  is  often 
confessedly  uncertain  (though  it  is  sufficiently  correct  for  all 
practical  uses),  and  to  distinguish  clearly  between  the  different 
epochs  in  the  current  of  the  history,  and  the  temporal  relations 
that  exist  between  them.  Nevertheless  some  dates  in  our  Bibles 
are  so  hazardous,  or  in  my  judgment  so  unfounded,  that  I  pur- 
posely mark  them  in  the  heading  of  the  paragraphs  as  of  "uncer- 
tain date."  In  other  cases  I  give  the  date  with  an  interroga- 
tion point,  in  order  to  indicate  how  uncertain  it  is.  But  with 
regard  to  the  numbers  given  in  the  text  of  the  Bible  itself,  it  is 
in  my  opinion  the  only  safe  rule  to  attend  always  to  the  Hebrew 
text — the  inspired  word  of  God,  numbers  and  all — except  in  the 
few  cases  where  there  is  good  reason  to  suspect  there  is  some 
error  of  the  copyist.] 

5:    21 — 24.     ENOCH,    the    saint   who    never   experienced    death. 
(From  3382  to  3107  b.  c.) 

21  And  Enoch  lived  sixty  and  five  years,  and  begat  Methuselah: 

22  and  Enoch  walked  with  God  after  he  begat  Methuselah  three 
hundred  years,  and  besat  .sons  and  daughters  : 

23  and  all  the  days  of  Enoch  were  three  hundred  sixty  and  five 
years : 

24  and  Enoch  walked  with  God :  and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took 
him. 

Of  this  great  man  ("the  seventh  counting  from  Adam"),  the 
father  of  Methuselah,  we  know  very  little,  outside  of  the  brief 
notice  we  have  here.  Times  of  impiety,  of  sensuality  and  of 
violence  were  those  in  which  he  lived,  and  as  they  could  not 
overcome  him,  they  impelled  and  even  obliged  him  to  seek 
closer  communion  with  his  God.     Jude  in  his  epistle  cites  the 


CHAPTER  5:  21—24  75 

following  prophecy  of  Enoch,  which,  whether  it  be  taken  from 
the  (apochryphal)  "Book  of  Enoch"  or  whether  it  be  that  both 
of  these  took  it  from  the  oral  tradition  of  the  Jews  (as  in  the 
case  of  Paul,  who  gives  from  Jewish  tradition  the  names  of  the 
two  principal  opponents  of  Moses,  Jannes  and  Jambres,  at  the 
court  of  Pharaoh,  2  Tim.  3:8),  the  Spirit  of  inspiration  guar- 
antees its  accuracy;  and  in  truth  every  line  of  its  energetic  ut- 
terances bears  on  its  face  the  marks  of  authenticity:  "And  to 
these  also  Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  prophesied  saying; 
Behold  the  Lord  cometh  with  ten  thousands  of  his  holy  ones, 
to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  convict  all  the  ungodly 
of  all  their  works  of.  ungodliness,  which  they  have  ungodly 
committed,  and  of  all  the  hard  speeches  which  ungodly  sinners 
have  spoken  against  him."  Jude  vrs.  14,  15.  He  says,  that 
Enoch  prophesied  in  this  manner  not  only  to  the  impious  of 
his  day  but  to  the  impious  of  all  ages,  as  a  class  of  persona 
found  in  apostolic  times,  who  are  found  today,  and  who  will 
perhaps  abound  still  more  in  the  last  days,  when  the  Advent 
of  the  Lord  and  the  Day  of  Judgment  are  drawing  nigh.  See 
Jude  vrs.  18 — 25.  It  is  a  prophesy  of  the  last  Judgment,  which 
the  prophet  foresaw,  and  he  paints  it  in  most  vivid  colors;  and 
nevertheless  the  judgment  which  was  hastening  on  was  the 
deluge  of  waters,  rather  than  that  second  deluge,  of  fire,  of 
which  the  former  was  a  type.  2  Pet.  3:  G — 10.  This  prophecy 
of  Enoch  is  of  the  greater  interest,  because  of  the  light  it 
sheds  on  the  prophecies  of  double  fulfilment;  like  that  of  Jesus 
with  regard  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  end  of 
the  Age;  in  which  the  judgment  of  the  Jewish  Church  and 
State  is  inextricably  involved  with  the  final  judgment  of  the 
world;  and  also  like  many  others  of  the  prophecies.  Enoch  saw 
the  judgment  of  God  coming  upon  the  world  of  the  ungodly, 
but  it  was  not  given  to  him  to  distinguish  between  the  first  and 
the  last  judgment.  This  is  very  easy  to  comprehend  if  we  sup- 
pose that  it,  like  many  other  prophecies,  was  given  to  the  prophet 
in  vision;  and  that  he  saw  (as  Paul  says  in  Romans  1:  16)  "the 
wrath  of  God  revealed  from  heaven  against  every  form  of  im- 
piety and  unrighteousness  of  men,"  which  wrath  will  culminate 
in  that  coming  day  of  wrath  and  retribution  for  the  enemies  of 
God,  which  is  likewise  the  day  of  glory  and  salvation  for  his 
people.  Rom.  2:  5—16;  2  Thes.  1:  5—10.  We  suppose  that  like 
Isaiah  (ch.  1:  1),  he  saw  it  all  in  vision,  down  to  "the  time  of  the 
end,"  and  described  what  he  saw,  without  being  able  to  dis- 
tinguish the  less  from  the  greater,  nor  the  nearer  from  the  more 
remote;    it  was   a  picture  of  coming  judgments,   including   the 


76  GENESIS 

most  remote  and  the  last;  but,  as  has  been  happily  said,  prophecy 
(like  all  pictures  made  before  the  days  of  Raphael)  was  like  a 
picture  without  perspective.  The  same  thing  is  true  with  re- 
gard to  the  ancient  prophecies  of  the  Advent  of  Christ.  The 
prophets  saw  it  in  bulk,  in  vision  perhaps  (see  Isa.  1:1;  2:1; 
John  12:  41;  8:  56),  with  all  its  train  of  consequences;  but  it 
was  not  given  them  to  distinguish  between  the  first  and  the 
second  Advent.  The  Jews  did  not  wish,  nor  do  they  now  wish, 
to  allow  of  any  other  advent  but  the  last;  while,  on  the  con- 
trary, many  Christians  are  fully  content  with  the  first  advent, 
and  make  little  or  no  account  of  the  second,  the  Coming  of  the 
Messiah  in  Glory  and  Majesty. 

This  great  saint  "walked  with  God,"  keeping  his  way  and 
maintaining  communion  with  him  in  times  of  extreme  wicked- 
ness, atrocious  sensuality  and  impious  atheism;  and  in  recom- 
pense of  his  fidelity,  and  in  order  to  animate  the  hope  and 
fortify  the  faith  in  the  invisible  of  the  few  who  in  that  day 
strove  to  live  holy,  and  also  for  the  purpose  in  clearing  up  for 
all  the  future  ages  the  form  and  the  security  of  the  final  redemp- 
tion, "Enoch  was  translated  that  he  should  not  see  death;  and 
he  was  not  found,  because  God  had  translated  him;  for  before 
his  translation  he  had  witness  borne  to  him  that  he  pleased 
God."  Heb.  11:  5.  It  has  been  aptly  said  that  "to  the  ante- 
diluvians, Enoch's  translation  afforded  the  clearest  evidence  of 
immortality,  as  that  of  Elijah  did  to  those  of  his  day,  and  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  does  to  us."  In  what  form  this  precious 
testimony  was  given  to  him,  we  do  not  know;  or  in  what  way 
his  translation  was  effected,  giving  thus  testimony  upon  testi- 
mony, that  God  was  pleased  with  him,  we  do  not  know;  but 
doubtless  the  godly  and  the  ungodly  alike  had  trustworthy  notice 
of  it;  and  this  would  serve  as  divine  testimony  for  both  classes. 

We  ought  not  to  pass  without  notice  vr.  22:  "And  Enoch 
walked  toith  God  after  he  had  begotten  Methuselah  300  years, 
and  begat  sons  and  da^ighters."  It  seems  as  if,  in  their  very 
form,  the  words  were  intended  to  reprove  the  error  of  Roman- 
ists, and  of  others  like  them,  who  allege  that  the  state  of  mar- 
riage is  less  holy  than  that  of  celibacy, — and  this  in  spite  of  the 
notorious  immoralities  of  that  unnatural  and  unscriptural  system, 
as  thoroughly  tested  in  papal  lands.  The  sum  total  of  the  days  of 
Enoch  was  365  years;   so  that  for  those  times  his  life  was  short. 

5:  25 — 27.     Methuselah,   the  oldest   of   men.      (From    3317   to 
2448  B.  c.) 

25  And  Methuselah  lived  a  hundred  eighty  and  seven  years,  and 
begat  Lamech : 


CHAPTER  5:  25—27  77 

26  and  Mcthusaleh  lived  after  he  begat  Lamecli  seven  hundred 
eighty  and  two  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters : 

27  and  all  the  days  of  Methuselah  were  nine  hundred  sixty  and 
nine  years  :  and  he  died. 

If  we  accept  the  common  chronology,  Methuselah  died  in  the 
very  year  of  the  deluge;  but  whether  he  died  in  his  bed,  or  was 
drowned  in  the  waters,  the  conclusion  would  seem  to  be  inevitable 
that  he  w'as  one  of  those  "forgetters  of  God"  whose  sins  brought 
on  the  world  the  waters  of  thg,t  divine  judgment.  See  ch.  6:  18; 
7:1.  It  cannot  in  any  case  be  affirmed  of  him,  as  it  was  of 
Abraham,  that  "he  died  in  a  good  old  age,  an  old  man  and  full 
of  days."     Ch.  25:  8. 

[Note  13. — On  the  longevity  of  the  antediluvian  patriarchs.  It 
is  asked  with  frequency  if  the  many  years  of  the  antediluvians 
were  years  of  twelve  months,  and  if  these  men  really  attained  to 
almost  a  thousand  of  our  years.  If  we  duly  consider  the  case, 
and  look  at  it  from  the  proper  point  of  view,  the  supposed  diffi- 
culty will,  I  think,  vanish  of  itself.  The  physical  constitution  of 
Adam  and  Eve  was  adapted  to  a  life  without  end.  They  were 
created  provisionally  immortal,  and  a  great  part  of  this  extraor- 
dinary vitality  remained  to  them  and  to  their  posterity,  even 
after  their  fall:  this  was  one  of  the  most  prolific  causes  of  the 
frightful  corruption  of  those  times.  The  diminution  of  human 
life  was  very  rapid  after  the  flood  until  the  times  of  Abraham, 
and  from  that  to  the  days  of  Moses;  when  it  seems  that  70  or 
80  years  came  to  be  the  ordinary  limit  of  human  life,  as  happens 
in  our  own  days.     See  Ps.  90:  10. 

Besides  the  Bible,  all  the  nations  of  antiquity  have  had  their 
traditions  as  to  the  great  age  to  which  human  life  attained  in 
times  long  passed.  Nor  does  there  exist  in  nature  any  reason 
whatever  why  the  vital  force  should  be  exhausted  in  70  or  80 
years,  any  more  than  in  700  or  800.  The  wisest  and  most  skilful 
scientist  can  only  say,  without  giving  any  reason,  that  we  ob- 
serve that  ordinarily  it  happens  so.  But  there  are  persons  of 
less  vital  force  who  exhaust  it  in  20,  30,  or  40  years;  and  others 
who  possess  it  in  such  abundance  that,  even  in  our  day,  their 
life  is  prolonged  to  130,  and  even  to  150  years.  In  which  we  clearly 
see  that  by  increasing  sufficiently  human  vitality  you  obtain 
any  age  you  please.  But  so  terrible  were  the  moral  consequences 
of  this  extraordinary  vitality,  and  consequent  longevity,  in  our 
race  of  sinners  before  the  flood,  that  God  in  mercy  has  cut  short 
the  term  of  human  life  from  then  till  now.* 

♦Our  physical  life  depends  on  the  constant  operation  of  the  two  laws 
of  waste  and  supply.  For  20  years  the  supply  so  far  exceeds  the  waste, 
that  the  body  develops  and  grows ;  from  20  to  50,  or  even  to  60,  the  two 


78  GENESIS 

Nevertheless,  the  advanced  age  to  which  men  lived  in  those 
primitive  times  was  very  important,  not  only  for  the  rapid 
population  of  the  world,  but  for  the  preservation  and  propaga- 
tion of  useful  knowledge,  historical,  mechanical,  intellectual 
and  religious.  According  to  the  common  chronology,  Adam 
died  726  years  before  the  deluge, — 126  years  before  Noah  was 
born.  Seth  died  614  years  before  the  deluge;  Enosh  516,  and 
for  the  space  of  84  years  was  a  contemporary  of  Noah.  Adam 
for  the  space  of  243  years  was  a  contemporary  of  Methuselah, 
who  for  600  years  was  contemporary  with  Noah;  and  after  the 
deluge,  Noah  lived  on  for  350  years,  reaching  to  the  56th  year  of 
the  life  of  Terah,  the  father  of  Abraham.  So  it  was  that  historical 
knowledge  passed  with  the  greatest  facility  and  security  from 
parents  to  their  children,  in  those  times  when  the  art  of  writ- 
ing was  perhaps  unknown,  and  the  stores  of  useful  knowledge 
were  carefully  guarded  in  the  memories  of  man: — Adam,  Me- 
thuselah, Noah,  Terah,  Abraham.  See  Note  6,  on  Patriarchal 
Traditions,  page  26.] 

5:  28 — 32.    lamech,  noah  (—rest) — a  type  of  "jesus,  who  de- 
livers   us    FKOM    THE    WRATH    TO    COME."      1    TheS.    1:  10. 

(From  3130  to  2248  b.  c.) 

28  And  Lamech  lived  a  hundred  eighty  and  two  years,  and  begat 
a  son : 

29  and  he  called  his  name  Noah,  saying,  This  same  shall  comfort 
us  in  our  worli  and  in  the  toil  of  our  hands,  which  cometh  because  of 
the  ground  which  Jehovah  hath  cursed. 

30  And  Lamech  lived  after  he  begat  Noah  five  hundred  ninety  and 
five  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters  : 

31  and  all  the  days  of  Lamech  were  seven  hundred  seventy  and 
seven  years  :  and  he  died. 

32  And  Noah  was  five  hundred  years  old :  and  Noah  begat  Shem, 
Ham,  and  Japheth. 

Lamech,  the  father  of  Noah,  lived  after  the  latter  was  born 
595  years,  dying  five  years  before  the  flood;  and  as  "Noah  wa3 
600  years  old  when  the  deluge  of  waters  came  upon  the  earth" 
(ch.  7:6),  it  follows  seemingly  of  necessary  consequence,  that 
when,  a  hundred  years  before  the  deluge,  or  say  one  hundred  and 
twenty  (ch.  6:3),  "Noah  (alone)  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of 
Jehovah,"  vr.  18,  and  when  with  him  (alone)  God  established 
his  covenant,  and  ordained  that  he  and  his  sons  and  his  wife  and 
are  so  nearly  in  equilibrium  that  the  healthy  subject  feels  no  sensible 
decline  of  bodily  vigor;  from  50  or  GO  to  70  or  80,  the  waste  exceeds  the 
supply,  and  the  body  gradually  declines  till  life  goes  out  In  death.  But 
we  can  conceive  of  the  equilibrium  of  icastc  and  supply  being  maintained 
for  hundreds  of  years  as  readily  as  for  scores  :  and  thus  it  was  in  the 
days  before  the  Flood.  It  was  as  simple  a  matter  then  as  now  ;  there  is 
nothing  unnatural   or  unreasonable  about  it. — Tr, 


CHAPTER  5:  28—32  79 

the  wives  of  his  sons  with  him — these  eight  and  no  more — 
should  enter  into  the  ark  which  he  commanded  him  to  make; 
and  when,  the  ark  being  finished,  God  commanded  him  to  enter, 
saying:  "Because  thee  (only)  have  I  found  righteous  in  this 
generation"  (ch.  7:  1),  it  seems,  I  repeat,  to  be  the  inevitable 
conclusion  that  his  father  Lamech,  (as  also  his  grandfather 
Methuselah)  was  numbered  with  the  unjust,  and  that  only  an 
"untimely  death"  (he  died  at  the  age  of  777)  saved  him  from  a 
watery  grave.  I  say  "it  seems  the  inevitable  conclusion,"  be- 
cause there  are  many  circumstances  of  the  case  of  which  we  are 
ignorant.  Well  indeed  has  the  wise  king  said:  "The  hoary  head 
is  a  crown  of  glory  when  it  is  found  in  the  way  of  righteousness." 
Prov.  16:  31.  We  see  here  the  strong  temptation  to  which  the 
LXX  appear  to  have  yielded  in  adding  and  taking  away,  as  we 
have  said,  a  hundred  years,  in  the  case  of  most  of  these  antedilu- 
vian patriarchs  (see  Note  12),  in  order  to  lengthen  out  the  time 
as  given  in  the  Hebrew  chronology. 

It  would  delight  us  not  a  little  to  understand  the  exclamation 
with  which  Lamech  gave  the  welcome  to  his  new  born  son, 
Noah,  as  an  expression  of  pious  faith  and  hope  in  the  promised 
Seed  of  the  Woman;  but  in  view  of  the  universal  corruption  (ch. 
6:  12,  13)  of  those  times  it  seems  to  us  difficult  to  do  so,  even 
according  to  the  chronology  of  the  LXX.  Notwithstanding  this, 
so  evil  were  those  times  and  so  bitter  the  fruit  of  man's  impiety, 
when  iniquity  was  reaching  to  its  fill  (as  in  the  worst  excesses  of 
the  French  Revolution,  from  1789  to  1795),  that  neither  faith  in 
God  nor  holiness  of  life  were  necessary  in  order  that  Lamech 
should  sigh  for  the  promised  period  of  rest;  just  as  the  Jews  of 
the  first  century  sighed  for  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  at  the  very 
time  they  were  seeking  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  his  blood. 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  Lamech  had  no  son  before  Noah, 
who  was  born  to  him  when  182  years  old;  but  however  that  may 
be,  this  particular  son  he  named  Noah  (z^Rest);  and  the  rea- 
son that  is  given  for  it  manifests  that,  as  the  promise  of  the 
Messiah  was  universally  disseminated  among  the  Jews  before 
the  coming  of  Christ,  so  also  the  promise  regarding  the  "Seed 
of  the  Woman"  was  a  thing  well  known  in  the  years  before  the 
flood,  and  was  the  hope  of  all  serious-minded  people  "This 
same,"  exclaimed  Lamech,  "shall  comfort  us  in  our  work  and  the 
toil  of  our  hands,  because  of  the  ground  which  Jehovah  hath 
cursed!"  Ch.  5:  29.  These  words  may  be  understood  spiritually, 
or  in  a  purely  worldly  sense,  according  to  the  character  which 
we  ascribe  to  Lamech;  but,  in  any  case,  they  point  as  with  the 
finger  to   the   promise  of  th*e   Liberator,   and   of   his   longed-for 


80  GENESIS 

rest;  as  in  his  day  Isaiati  said:  "And  his  rest  shall  be  glorious." 
Isa.  11:  10.  See  also  the  argument  of  Paul  about  this  rest 
which  reniaineth  (=  is  yet  to  come),  in  Heb.  4:  2 — 9. 

As  has  been  already  said,  it  is  not  credible  that  Noah  should 
not  have  married  until  he  was  500  years  of  age,  nor,  that  having 
married  early  he  should  have  had  no  children  till  that  age.  If 
he  had  children  before  this,  it  is  probable  that  they  died  young. 
The  pen  refuses  to  write  the  alternative  supposition.  Neverthe- 
less, there  is  little  doubt  that  he  had  brothers  and  sisters,  the 
children  of  Lamech  who  perished.  Vr.  30.  Shem  was  the  oldest  of 
Noah's  three  sons  (ch.  10:  21,  A.  V.  and  M.  S.  V.),  Ham  the  young- 
gest  (ch.  9:  24).  In  ch.  11:  10,  we  read  that  "Shem  was  a  hundred 
years  old  when  he  begat  Arphaxad,  two  years  after  the  flood"; 
from  which  we  infer  that  the  eldest  son  of  Noah,  or  the  oldest  of 
these  three,  was  98  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  deluge;  and  that 
when  Noah  received  commandment  to  build  the  ark,  100  or  120 
years  before,  he  had  no  son,  or  at  least  none  of  these  three. 

[Note  14. — On  the  antediluvian  civilization.  It  is  but  a  very 
few  years  (in  1898  or  1899  perhaps)  since  our  newspapers,  both 
secular  and  religious,  contained  startling  notices  of  the  discovery, 
30  or  40  feet  below  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Nineveh,  of  the  buried 
ruins  of  another  city  anterior  to  that,  which  with  no  little  con- 
fidence they  published  as  the  ruins  of  an  antediluvian  Nineveh, 
submerged  by  the  waters  of  Noah's  flood,  and  covered  with  the 
enormous  deposits  of  sediment  which  must  have  accompanied 
that  unparalleled  catastrophe.  According  to  the  best  information 
I  have  been  able  to  gather,  these  were  premature  and  distorted 
reports  of  the  discoveries  of  Prof.  Hilprecht,  at  Nippur,  sup- 
posed to  be  the  ancient  Calneh,  more  than  a  hundred  miles  dis- 
tant from  Nineveh.  But  the  fact  that  Noah  was  able  to  build 
such  a  structure  as  his  ark,  plainly  reveals  the  existence  of  a 
very  advanced  civilization,  and  of  great  riches  at  that  time; 
and  as  the  cities  of  that  day  were  destroyed  instantaneously  (as 
were  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii  by  an  eruption  of  Mt.  Vesu- 
vius, in  the  year  70  of  our  Era),  it  is  altogether  possible  that 
there  is  reserved  for  the  20th  century  the  discovery  of  the  re- 
mains of  antediluvian  cities,  buried  in  like  manner  beneath  the 
alluvial  soil  of  the  plains  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates — rivers 
which  existed  from  the  days  of  Eden.  Ch.  2:  14.  Nobody  need 
be  surprised  at  this,  who  reflects  on  the  astonishing  manner  in 
which  God  is  now  confirming  his  written  word  by  means  of  the 
"monuments"  of  Egypt,  Babylon  and  Assyria,  which  during  the 
last   fifty   years   are   being   brought   to    light,   from   out   of   the 


CHAPTER  G:  1—8  81 

pyramids,  and  the  tombs  of  Egypt,  and  the  mounds  of  rubbish 
of  the  ruined  cities  of  Assyria,  Chaldea  and  Babylonia.] 

CHAPTER  VI. 

VRS.     1 8.      MIXED     MARRIAGES,     AND     THEIR     TERRIELE     RESULTS. 

(Of  uncertain   date.) 

1  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  men  began  to  multiply  on  the  face 
of  the  ground,  and  daughters  were  born  unto  them, 

2  that  the  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  men  that  they  were 
fair ;  and  they  took  them  wives  of  all  that  they  chose. 

3  And  Jehovah  said,  My  Spirit  shall  not  strive  with  man  for 
ever,  for  that  he  also  is  flesh:  yet  shall  his  days  be  a  hundred  and 
twenty  years. 

4  The  Nephilim*  were  in  the  earth  in  those  days,  and  also  after 
that,  when  the  sons  of  God  came  in  unto  the  daughters  of  men,  and 
they  bare  children  to  them  :  the  same  were  the  mighty  men  that  were 
of  old,  the  men  of  renown, 

5  And  Jehovah  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great  in  the 
earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was 
only  evil  continually. 

6  And  it  repented  Jehovah  that  he  had  made  man  on  the  earth, 
and  it  grieved  him  at  his  heart. 

7  And  Jehovah  said,  I  will  destroy  man  whom  I  have  created 
from  the  face  of  the  ground ;  both  man,  and  beast,  and  creeping 
things,  and  birds  of  the  heavens ;  for  it  repenteth  me  that  I  have  made 
them. 

8  But  Noah  found  favor  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah. 

*0r,  giants.     See  Num.  13  :  33. 

This  paragraph  assigns  the  reason  for  the  terrible  corruption 
of  men  which  brought  the  deluge  of  waters  upon  the  world.  "We 
have  already  seen  that  after  the  death  of  "Abel  the  just"  by 
the  fratricidal  hand  of  Cain,  Seth  was  given  and  accepted  as  a 
substitute  for  him — "another  seed"  in  the  stead  of  that  frustrated 
hope.  We  have  seen  also  that  in  the  days  of  Enosh,  the  son  of 
Seth,  godly  men  "began  to  be  called  by  the  name  of  Jehovah" 
(ch.  4:26);  it  was  not  necessary  that  the  other  class  should 
have  any  distinctive  name.  But  a  thousand  years  passed,  and 
here  we  have  two  classes  of  persons  notably  characterized  as 
"the  sons  of  God"  and  "the  daughters  of  men",  the  union  of 
which,  co-operating  with  their  long  and  vigorous  life,  and  the 
correspondingly  strong  animal  passions  of  the  people  of  those 
days,  cast  down  to  the  ground  the  last  vestige  that  remained 
among  men  of  piety  and  the  fear  of  God.  It  is  likely,  and  such 
is  the  ordinary  belief  among  serious  and  religious  persons,  that 
those  who  in  the  days  of  Enosh  began  to  be  called  by  the  name 
of  Jehovah,  are  here  called  "sons  of  God,"  as  is  common  usage  in 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  (Ex.  4:  22;  Deut.  14:  1;  Isa.  43:  6; 
63:    16;    Hos.   1:  10;    John   8:  41,  42;    Rom.   9:  8;    2  Cor.   6:  18; 


82  GENESIS 

1  John  3:  1,  2) ;  while  those  of  a  purely  worldly  character  rejected 
then,  just  as  they  do  now,  that  character  and  name,  and  con- 
sidered themselves  more  honored  with  the  title  "the  sons  (and 
daughters)  of  men."  The  subject  of  the  paragraph  is  confessedly 
thorny  and  difficult,  because  so  extremely  brief.  But  the  expo- 
sition now  given  of  the  former  part  of  it  is  much  more  satis- 
factory than  the  extravagances  which  some  have  allowed  them- 
selves to  imagine  or  defend;  and  it  is  also  the  common  explana- 
tion of  the  words  "sons  of  God"  and  "daughters  of  men."  On 
points  of  this  nature  it  is  better  to  suspend  judgment  until,  in 
another  and  better  life,  we  can  consult  Noah  and  Moses  on  the 
subject,  rather  than  give  loose  rein  to  wild  imaginations.  Christ 
gives  to  his  people  an  "eternal  life";  so  that  they  can  well 
afford  to  wait.  Augustine  used  to  say:  "God  is  patient  because 
he  is  eternaV;  and  his  children  may  well  imitate  him  therein. 
There  are,  for  example,  those  who  suppose  here,  just  as  in  the 
case  of  the  wife  of  Cain,  that  there  were  two  distinct  races  of 
men  in  the  world,  the  Adamic  and  the  Pre-Adamic — a  race  per- 
haps half  bestial;  the  mixture  of  which  two  races  caused  the 
moral  desolations  that  are  mentioned;  and  that  when  the  He- 
brew text  says  in  vr.  9  that  "Noah  was  a  just  man  and  perfect 
in  his  generations,"  instead  of  meaning,  as  said  in  the  text  of 
the  Modern  Spanish  Version,  that  he  was  "perfect  among  his  con- 
temporaries" (a  very  proper  and  legitimate  use  of  the  word, 
according  to  Gesenius),  it  means  to  say  that  he  was  of  pure  stock 
and  uncontaminated  descent.  An  old  Jewish  opinion  was  that 
"the  sons  of  God"  were  angels,  or  fallen  angels,  who  by  their 
union  with  women  of  human  stock,  produced  the  giants,  or 
"Nephilim";  of  whom  the  mythology  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
brings  us  many  fantastic,  wicked  and  impure  stories.  Extrava- 
gances are  both  of  these  explanations,  which  have  no  basis  in  rea- 
son, or  in  science,  or  in  Scripture;  although  we  cannot  satisfac- 
torily explain  the  difficulties  of  the  passage,  nor  resolve  the 
doubts  which  vr.  4  awakens,  nor  elucidate  the  reference  to  the 
powerful  antediluvians,  "men  of  renown;"  to  whom  there  are 
several  allusions  in  Job  and  other  books  of  the  Old  Testament, 
as  being  buried  beneath  the  waters  of  Noah's  Flood.  See,  for 
example,  Ps.  88:  10;  Job  26:  51,  compared  with  Job  22:  15—18; 
Prov.  2:  18;  9:  18;  21:  26.  It  was  very  natural  that  an  event 
which  so  deeply  and  powerfully  affected  the  minds  of  the 
ancient  world,  should  come  to  give  form  and  coloring  to  the 
popular  ideas  of  those  times  with  regard  to  the  mysterious  subject 
of  hell,  the  end  and  destiny  of  the  wicked  (a  subject  little  less 
mysterious  for  us),  and  that  it  should  give  not  only  much  occu- 


CHAPTER   6:  1—8  83 

pation  to  the  imagination  and  inventive  faculty  of  the  Jewish 
doctors,  as  we  have  seen,  but  that  those  heroes  of  wickedness, 
the  "mighty  men  that  were  of  old,  the  men  of  renown,"  with 
many  fabulous  inventions,  should  be  converted  into  the  gods  and 
demi-gods  whom  the  pagans  of  antiquity  worshiped,  and  of  whom 
Paul  says:  "The  things  which  gentiles  offer  in  sacrifice  they 
sacrifice  to  demons  and  not  to  God"  (1  Cor.  10:  20);  it  being 
understood  that  "demons"  in  the  mouth  of  the  Greeks,  were  the 
spirits  of  dead  heroes,  converted  into  divinities;  all  which  differs 
but  little,  except  in  name  and  in  the  personal  character  of  those 
so  deified,  from  the  worship  of  the  saints,  which  Romanism 
baptizes  with  the  name  of  "Christianity."  It  is  likely  also  that 
these  were  "the  demons,"  or  "devils,"  whose  worship,  frequently 
obscene,  the  ancient  Israelites  often  substituted  for  the  worship 
of  Jehovah.    Deut.  32:  27;  Ps.  106:  37. 

It  serves  to  increase  the  difficulties  of  this  passage  that  the 
"Nephilim",  or  giants,  were  not  the  product  of  the  mixed  mar- 
riages of  vr.  3,  as  is  frequently  represented.  The  Hebrew  text 
will  not  sanction  such  a  meaning.  The  correct  translation  of  the 
Hebrew  makes  a  marked  distinction  between  the  two.  The 
progeny  which  came  of  those  unholy  unions  is  mentioned  as 
something  additional,  which  was  "and  also"  and  "after  that." 
We,  who  are  the  children  and  heirs  of  God  and  have  the  promise 
and  security  of  an  endless  life,  in  the  case  of  involved  and  difficult 
passages  like  this,  will  do  well  to  suspend  judgment,  until  we 
have  the  opportunity  of  consulting  the  case  with  those  who  can 
give  us  the  certainty  of  it  at  first  hand. 

In  the  midst  of  these  difficulties,  then,  and  of  the  scanty  infor- 
mation which  God  has  been  pleased  to  give  us  about  the  matter, 
we  content  ourselves  with  the  explanation  already  given,  as  the 
common  opinion,  and  the  only  one  that  is  satisfactory  to  most 
serious  persons;  to  wit,  that  the  act  of  completely  blotting  out 
the  distinction  between  the  just  and  the  unjust,  "the  children  of 
God"  and  the  "children  of  men,"  by  means  of  matrimonial  al- 
liances (using  the  word  "matrimonial"  in  a  wide  sense,  to  in- 
clude sexual  relations  in  general),  resulted  in  the  complete  ruin 
of  the  cause  of  God  in  the  world,  and  in  the  complete  triumph 
of  the  cause  of  that  "old  Serpent,  who  is  called  the  Devil  and 
Satan."  With  reason,  then,  In  all  the  ages  of  the  past,  God  has 
admonished  his  people  to  beware  of  this.  Moses  said  to  them:  "Ye 
are  the  children  of  Jehovah  your  God"  (Deut.  14:  1),  and  as  su  'i 
he  commanded  them  very  often  that  they  should  have  no  fam  7 
relations  with  the  pagan  nations  that  were  around  them;  to  t  3 
same  effect,  and  as  speaking  to  "sons  and  daughters  of  the  Lo    I 


84  GENESIS 

Almighty,"  Paul  solemnly  admonished  the  Christians  of  his  day 
about  the  same  matter.  2  Cor.  6:  14 — 18.  Polygamy,  or  univer- 
sal and  unbridled  lewdness,  is  indicated  by  the  words,  "they  took 
to  themselves  wives  {Heb.  women),  of  all  that  they  chose."  An- 
other necessary  result  of  such  dissoluteness  was  violent  dis- 
cord and  strife,  and  even  wars,  on  account  of  the  women  thus 
carried  back  and  forth.  In  ancient  Greece  the  abduction  of  the 
beautiful  Helen  caused  the  long  and  disastrous  Trojan  war;  and 
among  the  greatest  of  good  things  that  a  pure  Christianity  has 
brought  to  us,  is  the  inviolability  of  the  family,  and  the  quiet 
and  secure  possession  of  the  most  precious  treasure  of  the  home. 

In  those  days  of  portentous  wickedness,  the  Holy  Spirit,  by 
means  of  the  natural  conscience,  strove  or  contended  with  men  in 
their  error;  but  with  so  little  success,  that  Jehovah  said:  "My 
Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man  in  his  error;  he  is 
flesh"  (Mod.  Span.  Ver.) ; — words  which  seem  to  imply  that 
those  carnal  sinners  were  so  unbridled  and  shameless  in  their 
excesses  and  violences  that  the  case  no  longer  admitted  a  remedy; 
notwithstanding  which,  God  granted  them  a  respite  of  120  years, 
before  he  made  an  end  of  them.  The  wards  "My  Spirit  shall  not 
always  strive  with  man  in  his  error,"  rationalists  and  semi- 
rationalists  would  wish  to  deprive  of  their  evangelical  meaning, 
in  order  to  give  them  some  insipid  sense  which  they  regard  as 
more  convenient.  The  former  sense  is  confirmed  by  Isaiah, 
who  to  the  same  effect  says:  "But  they  rebelled  and  grieved 
his  Holy  Spirit;  wherefore  he  was  turned  to  be  their  enemy, 
and  himself  fought  against  them."  Isa.  63:  10.  And  in  times  of 
the  New  Testament,  Stephen  said  to  his  murderous  opponents: 
"Ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Spirit;  as  your  fathers  did,  so 
also  do  ye."  Acts  7:  51.  Although  the  words  are  in  fact  sus- 
ceptible of  several  other  translations,  that  given  is  the  best  and 
the  one  most  generally  accepted;  and  in  these  Studies  I  regard 
it  most  convenient  ordinarily  to  attend  to  a  single  meaning 
which  is  good,  Scriptural  and  of  common  approval,  rather  than 
occupy  ourselves  with  others  of  doubtful  quality,  which  only 
serve  to  distract  the  reader's  attention  with  various  and  con- 
tradictory senses. 

The  word  "Nephilim"  (vr.  4)  is  in  Num.  13:  23  translated 
"the  giants,  sons  of  Anak";  and  such  is  probably  its  meaning 
in  this  place — whether  speaking  of  men  of  prodigious  stature, 
of  prodigious  strength  and  rapacity,  or  of  prodigious  pride  and 
wickedness.  The  Hebrew  word  signifies  "fallers"  and  some  sup- 
pose that  it  refers  to  the  rapacious  and  violent,  who  falling 
upon  the  defenceless,  made  of  them  and  of  all  they  possessed 


CHAPTER  G:  1— S  85 

a  prey.  Others  translate  it  "fallen,"  and  imderstantl  it  as  re- 
ferring either  to  fallen  angels  or  to  apostate  men,  fallen  away 
from  God.  In  this  uncertainty,  it  seems  best  and  most  secure, 
to  preserve  the  word  in  its  Hebrew  form,  as  in  fact  is  done  by  the 
Revisers  of  the  English  Bible.  In  vrs.  5,  6,  7,  the  historian  seems 
to  labor  painfully  to  find  words  adequate  to  duly  set  forth  the 
extreme  impiety  of  those  times,  and  the  pain  and  disgust  with 
which  God  looked  on  that  human  creation  which  interested  him 
so  deeply,  and  which,  at  its  beginning,  caused  him  so  great  sat- 
isfaction: "And  Jehovah  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was 
great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts 
of  his  heart  was  only  evil  continually.  And  it  repented  Jehovah 
that  he  had  made  man  upon  the  earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at  his 
heart.  And  Jehovah  said:  I  will  destroy  man  whom  I  have 
created  from  the  face  of  the  ground;  both  man  and  beast  and 
creeping  things,  and  birds  of  the  heavens;  for  it  repenteth  me 
(or  grieves  me)  that  I  have  made  them."  The  word  "it  repenteth 
me"  may  also  more  properly  be  translated  "7  am  sorry"  or 
"grieved,"  as  given  in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version,  which  is  the 
primitive  meaning  of  the  verb  "naham",  and  there  is  no  good 
reason  for  adopting  the  more  difficult  sense  of  the  two.  Here 
the  sacred  writer  avails  himself  of  our  manner  of  speech  in 
order  to  convey  to  us  an  idea  of  the  utter  disgust  of  God,  and  to 
declare  his  solemn  and  deliberate  purpose  of  sweeping  the  earth 
of  its  impious  inhabitants,  and  of  washing  it  clean  of  the 
crimes  and  uncleannesses  committed  upon  it;  commencing  anew 
the  history  of  mankind  in  Noah,  as  a  new  Adam; — the  only  man 
among  his  contemporaries  who  had  kept  himself  faithful  to  God 
and  pure  in  his  manner  of  life; — his  three  sons  were  not  yet 
born,  as  said  before. 

In  all  this,  it  concerns  us  to  see  what  we  are  ourselves  by 
nature,  and  of  what  our  fallen  nature  is  capable  when  deprived 
of  divine  help,  and  bereft  of  the  example  and  influence  of  those 
who  love  and  serve  God.  Such  v/as  the  world  when  only  one 
just  man  was  found  in  it.  Compare  the  case  of  Sodom.  Ch. 
18:  32;  19,  16. 

In  the  midst  of  this  frightful  corruption,  "Noah  found  favor 
(M.  S.  v.,  'grace')  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah."  The  word  "grace" 
here  and  in  all  the  Bible  signifies  unmerited  favor;  and  it  is 
important  to  hold  always  before  us  that  man,  as  a  sinner,  can 
merit  nothing  before  God  except  the  punishment  of  his  sins. 
The  pardon  of  sin  was  to  Noah,  as  it  is  to  us,  an  unmerited  grace. 
Eph.  1:  7.  Notwithstanding  this,  "to  find  grace"  may  likewise 
express  the  pleasure  with  which  God  looked  upon  this  his  serv- 


86  GENESIS 

ant,  who  confessed  his  name  and  was  found  faithful  before  him 
in  the  midst  of  the  universal  corruption  of  his  contemporaries: 
see  this  use  of  the  word  in  ch.  39:  4,  21.  It  is  hard  enough  in  a 
Christian  land,  and  surrounded  by  great  numbers  of  pious  peo- 
ple, to  keep  ourselves  from  the  corruptions  of  the  world;  how 
great,  then,  was  the  faith  of  Noah,  and  how  worthy  was  he  of 
our  praise  and  imitation,  who  "walked  with  God,"  and  held 
faithfully  to  his  paths,  when  "all  flesh  had  corrupted  its  way," 
and  he  only  was  found  "righteous  before  God!"  Divine  grace 
alone  made  him  capable  of  doing  this,  as  it  does  us;  but  not  on 
this  account  did  God  regard  him  with  any  the  less  favor, 
but  on  tbe  contrary,  with  yet  greater  favor;  because  it  was  all 
"to  the  glory  of  his  grace  which  he  freely  bestows  on  us  in  his 
beloved  (Son)."    Eph.  1:  6. 

6:  9 — 12.   THE  UNIVERSAL  AND  FRIGHTFUL  CORRUPTION  OF  THE  WHOLE 

HUMAN   RACE.       (2468    B.    C.) 

9  These  are  the  generations  of  Noah.  Noah  was  a  righteous  man, 
and  perfect  in  his  generations  :   Noah  walked  with  God. 

10  And  Noah  begat  three  sons,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth. 

11  And  the  earth  was  corrupt  before  God,  and  the  earth  was  filled 
with  violence. 

12  And  God  saw  the  earth,  and,  behold,  it  was  corrupt ;  for  all 
flesh  had  corrupted  their  way  upon  the  earth. 

"The  generations  of  Noah"  in  this  passage  means  memoirs, 
or  family  history,  as  we  see  in  many  places,  where  there  is  no 
allusion  to  genealogies  or  lineal  descendants.  This  we  have  seen 
in  ch.  2:  4;  and  here  also,  where  it  does  not  pass  beyond  Shem, 
Ham  and  Japheth.  We  see  it  also  in  ch.  11:  27;  25:  19,  and 
particularly  in  ch.  37:  2,  which  introduces  to  us  the  history  of 
Joseph.  This  secondary  sense  was  easily  derived  from  the 
primary  sense  of  a  genealogical  list.  Some  suppose  that  "perfect 
in  his  generations"  in  vr.  9  (a  different  word  in  Hebrew  from  the 
other),  means  that  Noah  w^as  of  pure  and  unmixed  blood;  but  as 
the  word  "perfect"  never  has  such  a  sense  in  the  Bible,  it  is  more 
proper  to  understand  that  generations  is  used  as  a  designation 
of  time,  (z=ages),  and  signifies  those  of  his  age,  or  as  the  text  of 
the  Modern  Spanish  Version  says,  "his  contemporaries", — the 
sense  as  given  by  Gesenius. 

This  great  man,  who  was  like  another  Adam — the  second 
progenitor  of  the  human  family  "walked  with  God,"  as  walked 
his  grandfather,  Enoch;  the  same  who  prophesied  of  the  judgment 
that  was  fast  coming  upon  the  earth  (page  75);  and  the  extreme 
wickedness  of  those  of  his  time  impelled  him  to  yet  greater  in- 
timacy with  his  God. 


CHAPTER  6:  13—22  87 

"Violence"  and  total  corruption  of  morals  formed  the  dis- 
tinctive characteristics  of  the  wickedness  of  those  times;  the 
first,  referring  to  oppression,  injustice  and  murder  and  the  other, 
to  the  unbridled  passions  of  men  and  women.  It  is  probable, 
and  almost  certain,  that  the  arts  and  sciences  had  reached  a  very- 
high  degree  of  perfection  before  the  deluge;  otherwise  Noah 
would  never  have  been  able  to  build  an  ark  like  that  he  made; 
but  as  it  happened  in  Rome,  in  the  time  of  its  greatest  achieve- 
ments and  grandeur,  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  its  highest 
civilization  were  prostituted  to  the  service  of  human  wicked- 
ness. Material  idolatry  does  not  appear  to  have  existed,  but  on 
the  contrary,  pure  atheism  and  a  complete  negation  of  God. 

6:    13 — 22.      THE  ABK.      GOD  ESTABLISHES   HIS   COVENANT  WITH   NOAH. 

(2468   B.  c.) 

13  And  God  said  unto  Noah,  The  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before 
me ;  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  through  them ;  and,  behold, 
I  will  destroy  them  with  the  earth. 

14  Make  thee  an  ark  of  gopher  wood ;  rooms  shalt  thou  make  in 
the  ark,  and  shalt  pitch  it  within  and  without  with  pitch. 

15  And  this  is  how  thou  shalt  make  it :  the  length  of  the  ark 
three  hundred  cubits,  the  breadth  of  it  fifty  cubits,  and  the  height 
of  it  thirty  cubits. 

Hi  A  light*  shalt  thou  make  to  the  ark,  and  to  a  cubit  shalt  thou 
finish  it  upward ;  and  the  door  of  the  ark  shalt  thou  set  in  the  side 
thereof ;    with    lower,    second,    and    third    stories    shalt    thou    make    it. 

17  And  I,  behold,  I  do  bring  the  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth,  to 
destroy  all  flesh,  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life,  from  under  heaven ; 
everything  that   is   in   the  earth  shall    die. 

18  But  I  will  establish  my  covenant  with  thee ;  and  thou  shalt 
come  into  the  ark,  thou,  and  thy  sons,  and  thy  wife,  and  thy  sons' 
wives  with  thee. 

19  And  of  every  living  thing  of  all  flesh,  two  of  every  sort  shalt 
thou  bring  into  the  ark,  to  keep  them  alive  with  thee ;  they  shall  be 
male  and   female. 

20  Of  the  birds  after  their  kind,  and  of  the  cattle  after  their  kind, 
of  every  creeping  thing  of  the  ground  after  its  kind,  two  of  every  sort 
shall  come  unto  thee,  to  keep  them  alive. 

21  And  take  thou  unto  thee  of  all  food  that  is  eaten,  and  gather 
it  to  thee ;  and  it  shall  be  for  food  for  thee,  and  for  them. 

22  Thus  did  Noah ;  according  to  all  that  God  commanded  him, 
so  did  he. 

[*M.  S.   v.,  skylight.] 

In  view  of  the  extreme  wickedness  of  men,  God  resolved  to 
destroy  them  completely,  and  begin  the  race  anew  in  the  family 
of  Noah;  with  the  additional  advantage  of  the  terrible  example 
made  of  the  impious  world  of  the  antediluvians.  There  had  al- 
ready failed  two  experiments*  which  God  was  making  with  the 

♦This  figure  of  speech  is  not  original  with  the  author,  but  was  a 
favorite  one  with  my  old  preceptor   (in  1S52-1855),  the  late  Dr.  J.  Ad- 


88  GENESIS 

fallen  race  of  Adam:  the  first,  which  ended  with  the  violent 
death  of  Abel;  and  the  second  (that  of  the  formal  separation  be- 
tween the  wicked  Cainites  and  the  pious  SetJiites,  who  from  the 
days  of  Enosh  were  called  by  the  name  of  Jehovah),  which  was 
wrecked  by  the  mixed  marriages  that  put  an  end  to  such  separa- 
tion;— experiments  made,  not  that  God  might  be  assured  of  the 
hopeless  depravity  of  men,  but  that  in  all  coming  ages  the  race 
might  know  its  own  utter  ruin,  and  the  native  wickedness  in- 
herent in  it,  and  turn  to  the  remedy  which  God,  at  infinite  cost  to 
himself,  has  provided  for  us. 

Now  then,  at  this  point  God  began  still  another  trial  or  experi- 
ment, the  third,  to  see  whether  a  divine  judgment  such  as  can  only 
be  compared  with  the  final  judgment  (of  which  it  was  in  fact  a 
vivid  type  and  representation),  would  bring  the  race  to  take 
warning,  and  to  amend  its  perverse  way  before  him.  He  said 
therefore,  to  Noah:  "The  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before  me;" 
and  he  commanded  him  to  "prepare  an  ark  for  the  saving  of  his 
house." 

The  manner  of  this  communication  it  is  not  given  us  to  under- 
stand. With  Adam,  with  Eve,  with  the  Serpent  and  with  Cain 
God  had  spoken  in  a  manner  perfectly  comprehensible  by  them. 
The  holy  Enoch  "walked  with  God,"  and  without  any  doubt 
(being  a  prophet),  he  had  more  or  less  frequent  communication 
with  him.  And  God  communicated  with  Noah  in  such  a  manner 
that  he  had  no  more  doubt  of  it  than  of  the  voice  of  his  wife  or 
his  sons.  The  allegation,  then  that  (when  there  is  occasion  for 
it)  God  cannot  communicate  his  will  with  infallible  and  in- 
dubitable certainty,  reduces  him  to  a  condition  of  less  dignity 
and  power  than  a  mortal  man.  Any  governor,  or  magistrate,  or 
county  sheriff,  without  the  least  difficulty,  is  able  to  send  out  his 
proclamations,  edicts  and  notices,  in  such  a  way  that  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  people  shall  know  with  absolute  certainty  what 
has  been  ordered  or  decreed;  and  if  the  King  of  Heaven  cannot 
do  as  much,  he  is  no  better  than  the  dumb  gods  of  wood  and 
stone.  So  that  the  denial  of  the  possibility  of  a  divine  revelation, 
well  accredited,  certain  and  absolutely  sure,  is  equivalent  to  the 
negation  of  God  himself.  What  does  it  matter  to  us  that  God 
exists,  if  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  communicate  with  us? 
Without  entering,  therefore,  into  the  inquiry  of  how  he  did  it, 
we  take  for  granted  that  he  did  in  fact  communicate  with  him, 
with  such  clearness  and  abundance  of  evidence  that  Noah  no 
dison  Alexander,  of  Princeton  Seminary,  N.  J. ;  and  when  properly  and 
reverently  used,  it  sheds  great  light  on  the  divine  procedure  with  our 
fallen    race. — Tr. 


CHAPTER  6:  13—22  89 

more  doubted  of  it  than  of  his  own  existence;  and  this,  as  re- 
gards all  the  details  of  the  plan  and  arrangements  of  the  ark 
which  we  have  now  before  us.  "By  faith" — and  faith  is  the 
simple  and  explicit  confidence  which  we  have  in  the  word  and 
testimony  of  God — "by  faith  Noah,  being  warned  of  God  of  things 
not  seen  as  yet,  moved  with  godly  fear,  prepared  an  ark  for  the 
saving  of  his  house;  through  which  he  condemned  the  world  and 
became  heir  of  the  righteousness  which  is  according  to  faith." 
Heb.  11:  7. 

[Note  15. — On  the  time  that  Noah  teas  occupied  in  preparing 
the  ark.  Only  three  sons  of  his,  Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth  are 
mentioned  in  this  history,  and  all  three  were  born  when  he  had 
already  passed  his  five  hundredth  year.  It  is  therefore  difficult 
to  suppress  the  suspicion  that  Noah  had  other  sons  besides  these, 
who  had  already  died,  or  who  were  united  in  character  and 
destiny  with  the  impious,  who  perished  in  the  Flood.  If,  as  we 
have  already  indicated  (p.  80),  Shem,  the  oldest  of  the  three, 
was  only  98  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  Deluge,  then  it  is  evident 
that  Noah  did  not  occupy  the  120  years  of  the  divine  forbearance 
with  a  reprobate  race  (vr.  3),  in  building  his  ark,  as  is  often  rep- 
resented; because  when  God  commanded  him  to  "prepare  an  ark 
for  the  saving  of  his  house,"  he  ordered,  that  when  finished,  "his 
sons  and  his  son's  wives"  should  enter  into  it,  as  well  as  himself 
and  his  wife  (vr.  18) ;  unless  we  suppose  that  vrs.  13 — 21  embrace 
the  substance  of  several  communications  which  he  had  in  the 
course  of  the  120  years;  as  was  true  of  Abraham  and  of  others. 
See  comments  on  ch.  12:  1. 

Peter  tells  us  (2  Pet.  2:5;  1  Pet.  3:  20)  that  Noah  was  "a 
preacher  of  righteousness";  but  that  his  wicked  contemporaries 
"were  incorrigible,  when  the  long  patience  of  God  waited  while 
the  ark  was  preparing."  This  seemingly  has  given  occasion 
for  the  belief  that  Noah  employed  the  120  years  of  the  divine 
longsuffering  in  building  the  ark;  but  for  reasons  just  given  I 
believe  that  such  an  inference  is  ill-founded,  unless  we  suppose 
that  Noah  commenced  the  work  twenty-two  years  before  the 
eldest  of  his  three  sons  were  born;  but  it  is  probable,  as  has  al- 
ready been  suggested,  that  what  is  related  in  vrs.  13 — 21  was 
not  a  single  communication,  but  the  substance  of  several.] 

The  ark  was  not  a  ship;  it  is  even  doubtful  whether  sea-going 
ships  were  known  at  that  period,  in  which  it  would  seem  that 
the  centres  of  population  were  still  remote  from  the  sea.  And 
the  name  given  to  this  structure  ("ark"  or  "box")  seems  to  con- 
firm the  idea  that  there  were  no  "ships"  in  those  times;  other- 
wise it  would  naturally  have  taken  the  form  and  also  the  name 


00  GENESIS 

Of  the  great  vessels  of  ancient  times,  whose  largest  dimensions 
it  exceeded  almost  beyond  computation. 

Many  ages  passed  after  Noah's  day  before  maritime  cities  were 
founded;  all  which  leads  us  to  believe  that  there  were  not  at 
that  period  ship-yards  and  ship-carpenters;  a  circumstance 
which  notably  increased  the  difficulty  of  Noah's  enterprise,  and 
sets  in  bold  relief  his  faith,  in  obeying  without  delay,  and  to  the 
very  letter,  the  order  which  he  had  received  from  God: — "And 
Noah  did  so;  according  to  all  that  God  commanded  him,  so  did 
he."    Vr.  22. 

The  tediously  slow  and  unheard-of  enterprise  which  Noah  un- 
dertook, and  in  which,  being  undoubtedly  rich,  he  invested  not 
only  his  time,  but  all  his  worldly  estate,  was  nothing  less  than  that 
of  building  a  great  "box"  300  cubits  long,  50  wide  and  30  high; 
or  450,  75  and  45  feet  respectively,  estimating  the  cubit  at  eigh- 
teen inches,  or  a  foot  and  a  half.  It  was  made  of  pine,  or  cypress, 
or  fir,  or  cedar;  for  it  is  not  known  positively  what  class  of 
wood  is  represented  by  the  word  "gopher,"  and  probably  the 
word  designates  a  family  of  incorruptible  woods,  rather  than 
any  one  class  exclusively.  The  ark  was  to  consist  of  three 
stories,  14  or  15  feet  high,  with  a  door  in  the  side,  and  a  skylight 
{Het.  "light")  all  around,  at  a  distance  of  one  cubit  from  the 
upper  part  of  each  story — formed  perhaps  by  the  omission  of  one 
plank  in  the  external  sheathing  of  the  ark — for  light  and  ventila- 
tion. Besides  this,  each  story  was  to  be  divided  into  rooms, 
cells  or  stalls  {Heh.  nests),  for  the  accommodation  of  the  differ- 
ent classes  of  animals,  and  storing  provision  for  their  main- 
tenance. We  know  also,  from  ch.  8:  6,  that  he  made  a  window 
in  the  ark,  probably  in  the  roof;  guarding  it  thus  against  the 
Impact  of  the  tremendous  waves  which  it  would  have  to  suffer, 
particularly  at  the  beginning  of  the  deluge.  A  heart  less  valiant 
and  full  of  faith  than  that  of  Noah,  would  have  been  appalled 
at  an  enterprise  so  superior  to  all  his  resources,  and  so  foreign 
to  his  business,  whatever  that  may  have  been.  Peter  calls  him 
"a  preacher  of  righteousness"  (2  Pet.  2:5);  but  with  refer- 
ence doubtless  to  his  character;  rather  than  his  office.  God  made 
every  kind  of  bird  and  beast  to  come  in  to  Noah,  male  and 
female;  but  of  clean  birds  and  animals,  such  as  would  serve  for 
sacrifice  (ch.  8:  20)  seven  of  each  class,  three  pairs  and  one  odd 
one,  both  to  offer  them  in  sacrifice,  and  also  to  eat,  after  the 
deluge,  without  making  an  end  of  the  race. 

With  regard  to  the  possibility  of  accommodating  so  many  ani- 
mals in  so  small  space,  there  is  no  real  difficulty,  when  we  bear 
in  mind  that  the  ark  contained  33,750  square  feet  of  surface  in 


CHAPTER  6:  13—22  91 

each  one  of  its  three  stories,  or  say,  101,250  square  feet  in  all; 
and  when  we  also  bear  in  mind  that  the  animals  were  not  the 
totality  of  animals  which  we  know  in  all  the  world,  but  those 
known  to  Noah  in  that  day,  which,  according  to  the  rude  classi- 
fication of  the  ancients,  would  be  much  less  extensive  than  our 
own.  With  regard  to  the  food  which  he  was  to  provide  (ch.  6: 
21),  there  will  be  no  difficulty  for  him  who  receives  the  testimony 
of  God,  and  who  remembers  that  on  a  certain  occasion  of  need, 
Jesus  furnished  food  to  5,000  men  with  the  short  supply  of  five 
loaves  and  two  small  fishes;  and  as  for  him  who  does  not  receive 
the  testimony  of  God,  it  is  all  one  whether  we  can  satisfactorily 
explain  the  various  problems  of  the  deluge  or  not.  The  wild 
beasts  and  birds  of  prey  here,  as  in  ch.  1:  30,  need  not  cause  us 
any  difficulty,  if  we  remember  that  to  the  believing  man  one  ex- 
plicit testimony  of  God  is  sufficient  to  remove  the  most  formidable 
difficulties  and  objections;  besides  which,  it  should  be  considered 
that  in  histories  so  extremely  brief  as  these,  we  cannot  expect 
that  all  difficulties  which  present  themselves  are  to  be  explained, 
in  order  that  we  may  receive  and  believe  them.  We  receive  and 
believe  them,  not  because  they  are  reasonable  or  probable,  but  on 
the  authentic  testimony  of  God  who  cannot  lie.  The  Bible  is  a 
revelation  of  the  will  of  God  for  our  salvation,  and  he  who  does 
not  care  to  believe  the  testimony  of  God,  cannot  be  saved.  Mark 
16:  16;  John  5:  10.  If  we  wish  to  oblige  God  to  explain  everything 
to  us  before  we  believe  him,  what  room  will  there  be  for  faith? 
We  believe  that  God,  who  gave  to  Noah  (who  was  not  a  ship- 
builder) particular  directions  as  to  the  construction  of  the  ark, 
would  so  guide  him  in  all  the  details  of  the  work,  that  he  might 
have  strength  and  endurance  to  reach  the  proposed  end;  and  that 
in  like  manner,  by  his  providence,  he  would  bring  the  animals, 
of  their  own  accord  to  the  ark,  at  the  opportune  time,  and  would 
make  provision  for  their  maintenance,  causing  the  wild  beasts  in 
the  ark  to  be  as  tame  as  the  lions  in  Daniel's  den  (Dan.  6:  22); 
and  as  for  those  who  do  not  believe  the  history  of  Daniel,  ac- 
credited to  have  been  a  "prophet"  by  Jesus  himself  (Matt.  24:  15), 
it  matters  very  little  whether  we  leave  them  satisfied  or  not  with 
regard  to  the  story  of  Noah. 

Nevertheless  it  is  to  be  remembered  that,  as  Noah's  Flood 
was  probably  caused  by  the  depression  of  the  crust  of  the  earth, 
in  its  inhabited  part,  rather  than  by  the  simultaneous  and  uni- 
versal elevation  of  the  seas  above  the  whole  earth,  as  will  be 
seen  in  the  comments  on  ch.  8:  1 — 14,  it  would  not  be  necessary 
that  animals,  wild  beasts  and  birds  of  all  classes  known  to  us, 
should  enter.     It  is  certain  that  there  was  no  "sloth"  there  from 


92  GENESIS 

South  America,  whicli  in  a  thousand  years  could  not  travel  on 
foot  to  Asia,  even  though  it  had  an  overland  route  provided 
with  daily  rations  of  fresh  leaves;  nor  yet  the  kangaroo  of  Aus- 
tralia. It  would  be  the  less  necessary,  therefore,  to  suppose  that 
there  was  there  the  polar  bear  from  North  America,  the  Bengal 
tiger  and  the  elephant  of  India,  nor  the  African  lion.  The  nar- 
rative of  the  deluge  is  popular  in  form,  and  as  in  the  story  of 
the  creation,  here  also  the  facts  are  presented  according  to  tho 
appearance  that  things  would  have  to  an  observer  of  that  day, 
rather  than  as  they  would  present  themselves  to  our  eyes,  who 
occupy  a  very  different  position  and  take  in  with  one  sweep  of 
vision  a  much  vaster  horizon. 

"7  ivill  establish  my  covenant  with  thee."  Vr.  18,  For  the 
first  time  we  meet  here  the  word  "covenant;"  which  figures  in 
such  a  remarkable  way  in  the  Bible,  and  in  every  well  co-ordi- 
nated system  of  Bible  religion;  from  which  some  leap  to  the 
conclusion  that  now,  for  the  first  time,  God  made  a  covenant 
with  men.  But  there  is  no  reasonable  doubt  that  this  is  the 
same  covenant  which,  without  mentioning  it  by  that  name,  God 
made  with  regard  to  "the  Woman  and  her  Seed,"  when  he  gave 
to  men  the  first  of  all  the  promises;  which  also,  without  calling 
it  by  the  name  of  "promise,"  was  yet  the  promise  of  human  re- 
demption; according  as  is  believed  and  accepted  by  Christian 
people  of  every  name.  Nobody  doubts  that  God  made  a  covenant 
with  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob;  and  yet,  although  it  is  many 
times  repeated,  only  txoice  is  it  called  a  covenant  in  the  history 
of  Abraham,  once  in  that  of  Isaac,  and  never  in  that  of  Jacob. 
For  the  most  part  it  is  spoken  of  as  "the  promise  given  to 
Abraham,"  and  also  "the  blessing  of  Abraham."  I  do  not  hesitate, 
therefore,  to  affirm  that  the  covenant  which  God  celebrated  with 
Noah  was  not  a  new  thing,  but  that  he  confirmed  with  him  the 
covenant  which  he  had  always  had  with  his  people,  who,  for 
this  cause,  and  only  for  this  cause,  from  the  days  of  Enosh  were 
"called  by  the  name  of  Jehovah";  a  covenant  based  on  the 
primeval  promise  as  to  the  Seed  of  the  Woman.  The  same 
promise  and  covenant  God  confirmed  with  Noah,  the  only 
earthly  representative  of  the  people  of  Jehovah  that  remained  to 
him  in  the  world;  and  in  order  to  give  effect  to  the  promise, 
he  took  the  necessary  steps  that  the  race  should  not  perish. 

The  antiquity  of  this  covenant  in  the  days  of  Noah  is  clearly 
attested  in  the  Revised  Version  of  the  English  Bible,  which  ex- 
plicitly recognizes  the  covenant  made  with  Adam,  in  the  words 
of  the  prophet  Hosea;  "like  Adam,  they  have  transgressed  the  cove- 
nant."  Hos.  6 :  7.    See  also  Note  7,  on  the  covenant  made  with  Adam. 


CHAPTER  7:  1—5  93 

The  crimson  thread,  dyed  in  the  blood  of  sacrifice,  runs  through 
the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament;  and  here,  in  this  covenant,  we 
see  it  reduce  its  sphere  of  operation  to  the  family  of  Noah  alone, 
leaving  to  perish  that  whole  generation  of  "forgetters  of  God." 
Indeed,  the  words:  "My  covenant  will  I  establish  with  thee" 
give  us  clearly  to  understand  in  this  place,  as  also  in  the  many 
others  in  which  God  uses  the  phrase,  that  it  was  not  a  new 
thing,  hut  well  knoivn  and  recognized  in  the  world,  and  of  all 
things  most  precious;  and  that  it  now  came  to  be  deposited  in 
the  hands  of  the  patriarch  Noah. 

More  noble  testimony  could  not  be  given  as  to  any  man's 
character  and  work  than  that  which  we  read  respecting  Noah, 
at  the  close  of  the  directions  which  God  gave  him  for  the  salva- 
tion of  his  family,  lineage  and  race:  "and  noah  did  so;  accord- 
ing TO  ALL  THAT  GOD  COMMANDED  HIM,   SO  DID  HE."      Vt.   20.      MoSCS 

celebrates  the  work  of  Noah,  and  Paul  his  faith  (Heb.  11:  7) ;  but 
the  two  amount  to  the  same  thing;  because  his  work  without 
his  faith  would  have  lieen  an  act  of  madness,  and  his  faith 
without  his  work,  a  lie! 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

VRS.   1 5.     NOAH  AND  HIS  FAMILY  ENTEE  THE  ABK. 

(2340  B.  c.    Year  of  the  World,  1656.) 

1  And  Jehovah  said  unto  Noah,  Come  thou  and  all  thy  house  into 
the  ark ;  for  thee  have  I  seen  righteous  before  me  in  this  generation. 

2  Of  every  clean  beast  thou  shalt  take  to  thee  seven  and  seven,* 
the  male  and  his  female ;  and  of  the  beasts  that  are  not  clean  two, 
the  male  and  his  female : 

3  of  the  birds  also  of  the  heavens,  seven  and  seven,*  male  and 
female,  to  keep  seed  alive  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

4  For  yet  seven  days,  and  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth 
forty  days  and  forty  nights ;  and  every  living  thing  that  I  have  made 
will  I  destroy  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground. 

5  And  Noah  did  according  unto  all  that  Jehovah  commanded  him. 

[*A.  v.,  by  sevens.] 

When  the  ark  was  finished,  and  the  preparations  which  were  to 
be  made  had  been  completed,  on  the  seventh  day  before  the 
flood  began,  God  commanded  Noah  and  his  sons  to  enter  the  ark; 
and  without  delaying  till  he  saw  any  indication  of  the  great 
catastrophe,  nor  even  waiting  for  the  animals  to  enter  before 
them,  "Noah  did  according  to  all  that  Jehovah  had  commanded 
him."  Vr.  5.  Such  are  the  operations  of  faith;  so  God  tries  and 
proves  that  incomparable  jewel  which  saves  our  souls — "faith 
which  worketh  by  love."    Gal.  5:  6. 


94  GENESIS 

7:  6 — 24.     THE   DELUGE.      (2348   b.   c.     Year   of   the  world    1658. 
According  to  the  LXX,  3261  b.  c.    Year  of  the  world,  2242.) 

6  And  Noah  was  six  hundred  years  old  when  the  flood  of  waters 
was  upon  the  earth. 

7  And  Noah  went  in,  and  his  sons,  and  his  wife,  and  his  sons' 
wives  with  him,  into  the  arlj,  because  of  the  waters  of  the  flood. 

8  Of  clean  beasts,  and  of  beasts  that  are  not  clean,  and  of  birds, 
and  of  everything  that  creepeth  upon  the  ground, 

9  there  went  in  two  and  two  unto  Noah  into  the  ark,  male  and 
female,  as  God  commanded  Noah. 

10  And  it  came  to  pass  after  the  seven  days,  that  the  waters  of 
the  flood  were  upon  the  earth. 

11  In  the  six  hundredth  year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the  second  month, 
on  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month,  on  the  same  day  were  all  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven 
were  opened. 

12  And  the  rain  was  upon  the  earth  forty  days  and  forty  nights. 

13  In  the  selfsame  day  entered  Noah,  and  Shem,  and  Ham,  and 
.Tapheth.  the  sons  of  Noah,  and  Noah's  wife,  and  the  three  wives  of 
his  sons  with  them,  into  the  ark ; 

14  tliey,  and  every  beast  after  its  kind,  and  all  the  cattle  after 
their  kind,  and  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth 
after  its  kind,  and  every  bird  after  its  kind,  every  bird  of  every  sort. 

15  And  they  went  in  unto  Noah  into  the  ark,  two  and  two  of  all 
flesh  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life. 

16  And  they  that  went  in,  went  in  male  and  female,  of  all  flesh, 
as  God  commanded  him :  and  Jehovah  shut  him  in. 

17  And  the  flood  was  forty  days  upon  the  earth ;  and  the  waters 
increased,  and  bare  up  the  ark,  and  it  was  lifted  up  above  the  earth. 

18  And  the  waters  prevailed,  and  increased  greatly  upon  the  earth; 
and  the  ark  went   upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 

19  And  the  waters  prevailed  exceedingly  upon  the  earth ;  and  all 
the  high  mountains  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven  were  covered. 

20  Fifteen  cubits  upward  did  the  waters  prevail ;  and  the  moun- 
tains were  covered. 

21  And  all  flesh  died  that  moved  upon  the  earth,  both  birds,  and 
cattle,  and  beasts,  and  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth,  and  every  man ; 

22  all  in  whose  nostrils  was  the  breath  of  the  spirit  of  life,  of  all 
that  was  on  the  dry  land,  died. 

23  And  every  living  thing  was  destroyed  that  was  upon  the  face 
of  the  ground,  both  man,  and  cattle,  and  creeping  things,  and  birds 
of  the  heavens ;  and  they  were  destroyed  from  the  earth :  and  Noah 
only  was  left,  and  they  that  were  with  him  in  the  ark. 

24  And  the  waters  prevailed  upon  the  earth  a  hundred  and  fifty 
days. 

When  God  commanded,  Noah,  without  waiting  for  anything 
more,  entered  with  his  family  into  the  ark,  and  the  animals 
came  in  after  them,  seven  days  (vr.  10)  before  there  was  any 
sign  of  the  approach  of  the  great  catastrophe.  In  plain  sight  of 
the  people  who  for  many  years  had  laughed  at  the  folly  of 
building  that  immense  and  ugly  "box"  on  dry  land,  many 
leagues  away  from  the  sea,  and  still,  no  doubt,  suffering  the  ridi- 
cule of  those  impious  men,  they  entered  the  ark;  "and  Jehovah 
shut  them  In." 

The  words  "all  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  (M.  S.  V.  "the 


CHAPTER  7:  6—24  95 

abyss")  were  broken  up"  may  signify  that  the  dikes  which  defend 
the  earth  against  the  invasion  of  the  seas  were  broken  through 
(see  Job.  38:  8—11;  Ps.  104:  8,  9;  Jer.  5:  22);  or  it  may  signify 
that  the  waters,  from  beneath,  apparently  burst  through  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  "The  windows  of  heaven"  is  a  phrase  much 
used  in  the  Bible,  and  in  such  different  senses,  that  it  is  an  indi- 
cation of  much  ignorance  or  much  perversity  to  insist  that  Moses 
believed  that  hidden  up  yonder  in  the  skies  there  were  oceans 
of  water,  which,  through  these  windows,  suddenly  fell. 

The  exact  date  at  which  the  flood  began  was  in  the  600th  year 
of  the  life  of  Noah,  in  the  second  month,  and  on  the  17th  day 
of  the  month.  Vr.  11.  In  those  days  when  there  were  no  calen- 
dars nor  any  recognized  epochs  from  which  to  compute  time, 
and  when  of  necessary  consequence  nobody  cared  about  questions 
of  chronology,  it  was  the  natural  method  to  determine  the  dates 
of  history  according  to  the  years  of  the  life  of  some  great  actor 
in  it,  as  did  all  the  other  nations  of  antiquity.  The  heavy  rains 
lasted  only  40  days  and  40  nights  (ch.  7:  4,  10,  12,  17);  but  the 
waters  kept  on  rising  higher  and  higher  until,  at  the  end  of  150 
days,  they  passed  over  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains.  Vr. 
24,  and  ch.  8:  3.  These  two  points  are  worthy  of  our  special  atten- 
tion. The  waters  continued  to  rise  for  110  days  after  the  great 
rains  ceased,  and  for  that  very  reason  the  rains  could  not  be  the 
cause  of  their  rise.  The  word  "prevailed,"  in  vr.  24,  seems  to  sig- 
nify that  for  the  space  of  150  days  the  waters  continued  to  ad- 
vance and  overwhelm  the  earth,  as  it  is  clearly  stated  in  vrs.  18, 
19,  20;  and  that  there  they  stopped  rising,  at  an  elevation  of  fifteen 
cubits  above  the  highest  mountains  known  to  the  writer.  As 
it  was  not  a  matter  of  guess-work,  the  15  cubits  (or  22 1^  feet) 
clearly  implies  that  he  makes  no  allusion  to  the  Himalayas  and 
the  Andes,  of  whose  existence  or  height  nothing  was  known  in 
that  part  of  the  world,  but  rather,  to  mountains  of  known  eleva- 
tion. After  the  end  of  the  150  days  the  waters  began  to  subside. 
Ch.  8:  3.  The  deluge  lasted  313  days  (ch.  6:  11;  8:  13) ;  although 
Noah  and  his  family  remained  still  in  the  ark  (ch.  8:  14,  15),  in 
order  that  the  earth  might  become  well  dried  before  they  went 
forth.  So  that  the  waters  rose  for  150  days,  and  they  subsided 
in  163  days;  the  abode  of  Noah  and  his  people  in  the  ark  lasted 
for  one  year  and  ten  days  after  the  deluge  began,  with  seven 
days  more  in  which  they  waited  for  it,  shut  up  in  the  ark;  or 
altogether,  the  space  of  one  year  and  seventeen  days. 

The  purpose  and  effect  of  the  deluge  was  the  utter  destruction 
of  every  animal  on  dry  land,  and  the  birds  of  heaven,  and  every 
man;  for  whose  sake  alone  that  terrific  destruction  was  sent. 


96  GENESIS 

In  Gen.  3:  17,  we  read  that  the  earth,  or  ground,  was  cursed  for 
man's  sake;  here  the  inhabited  world  was  destroyed  for  man's 
sake;  and  in  Rom.  8:  19 — 23,  Paul  teaches  us  that  it  still  "groans 
beneath  the  bondage  of  corruption,"  longing,  with  outstretched 
neck,  for  the  day  of  its  liberation,  and  of  its  admission  into  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God — the  day  of  "the  re- 
demption of  our  body."  The  deluge  was  universal  with  respect 
to  men;  its  commission  was  to  destroy  utterly  the  ungodly  race, 
whose  insupportable  sins  had  provoked  beyond  endurance  the 
wrath  of  heaven;  in  order  that  the  human  race  might  begin 
afresh  in  the  family  of  Noah,  that  second  Adam.  The  question 
whether  the  whole  earth,  inhabited  and  uninhabited — our  ter- 
raqueous globe,  was  submerged,  we  reserve  for  consideration  in 
the  following  chapter. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

VRS.   1 — 14.      END  OF  THE  DELUGE.       (2347  B.  C.) 

1  And  God  remembered  Noah,  and  all  the  beasts,  and  all  the  cattle 
that  were  with  him  in  the  ark :  and  God  made  a  wind  to  pass  over 
the  earth,  and  the  waters  assuaged ; 

2  the  fountains  also  of  the  deep  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were 
stopped,  and  the  rain  from  heaven  was  restrained ; 

3  and  the  waters  returned  from  off  the  earth  continually :  and 
after  the  end  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  days  the  waters  decreased. 

4  And  the  ark  rested  in  the  seventh  month,  on  the  seventeenth  day 
of  the  month,  upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat. 

5  And  the  waters  decreased  continually  until  the  tenth  month : 
in  the  tenth  month,  on  the  first  day  of  the  month,  were  the  tops  of 
the  mountains  seen. 

6  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  forty  days,  that  Noah  opened 
the  window  of  the  ark  which  he  had  made : 

7  and  he  sent  forth  a  raven,  and  it  went  forth  to  and  fro,  until 
the  waters  were  dried  up  from  off  the  earth. 

8  And  he  sent  forth  a  dove  from  him,  to  see  if  the  waters  were 
abated  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground ; 

9  but  the  dove  found  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot,  and  she 
returned  unto  him  to  the  ark  ;  for  the  waters  were  on  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth  :  and  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  took  her,  and  brought 
her  in  unto  him  into  the  ark. 

10  And  he  stayed  yet  other  seven  days ;  and  again  he  sent  forth  the 
dove  out  of  the  ark ; 

11  and  the  dove  came  in  to  him  at  eventide;  and,  lo,  in  her  mouth 
an  olive-leaf  plucked  off :  so  Noah  knew  that  the  waters  were  abated 
from  off  the  earth. 

12  And  he  stayed  yet  other  seven  days,  and  sent  forth  the  dove ; 
and  she  returned  not  again  unto  him  any  more. 

13  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  six  hundred  and  first  year,  in  the 
first  month,  the  first  day  of  the  month,  the  waters  were  dried  up  from 
off  the  earth  :  and  Noah  removed  the  covering  of  the  ark,  and  looked, 
and,  behold,  the  face  of  the  ground  was  dried. 

14  And  in  the  second  month,  on  the  seven  and  twentieth  day  of 
the  month,  was  the  earth  dry. 


CHAPTER  8:  1—14  97 

The  words  "God  remembered  Noah,"  etc.,  in  verse  1,  is  a 
Hebraism,  which  means  that  he  had  them  present  in  his  mind 
and  mercy,  and  commenced  to  worlc  lior  their  deliverance.  The 
result  of  it  was  that  after  150  days  "he  made  a  wind  to  pass  over 
the  earth,  and  the  waters  abated."  "The  windows  of  heaven" 
were  closed  at  the  end  of  the  40  days  and  40  nights  (ch.  7:  4, 
12,  17) ;  for  the  words  refer  to  a  steady,  extraordinary  and  un- 
exampled down-pour  of  water,  limited  to  the  40  days  and  40 
nights;  although,  without  doubt,  it  rained  much,  though  not 
incessantly,  after  that.  The  threefold  repetition  of  the  words 
"40  days  and  40  nights"  clearly  indicates  that  those  40  days  and 
nights  were  something  altogether  unexampled;  days  in  which  the 
waters  fell  in  sheets  or  in  cataracts,  according  to  the  translation 
of  the  LXX.  The  inundations  of  waters,  falling  perhaps  like 
cloudbursts,  formed  and  always  have  formed  a  most  notable  fea- 
ture of  this  cataclysm,  and  the  one  which  most  vividly  im- 
pressed the  senses;  although  it  was  not  the  most  efficient  cause 
in  producing  the  deluge,  as  we  shall  see  farther  on.  Job  says 
(ch.  26:  8)  that  God  "binds  up  the  waters  in  his  thick  clouds, 
and  the  cloud  is  not  rent  under  them."  But  here  the  clouds  rent 
asunder  and  the  waters  fell  in  cataracts.  "The  fountains  of  the 
great  deep"  were  not  shut  until  the  end  of  the  150  days,  and  upon 
this  the  waters  were  detained  in  their  triumphant  course  and  did 
not  rise  any  higher.  The  two  phenomena  commenced  simulta- 
neously, seven  days  after  God  had  shut  up  Noah  and  his  family 
in  the  ark  (ch.  6:  10,  11);  but  the  operation  of  the  second,  the 
true  cause  of  the  deluge,  lasted  for  110  days  after  the  efficient 
operation  of  the  first  had  ceased.  This  fact  is  very  palpable; 
but  it  seems  to  escape  the  attention  of  most  readers  of  the  book. 
The  fall  of  one  foot  of  water  in  twenty  four  hours  is  a  phenom- 
enal event,  even  in  tropical  regions;  but  this  would  not  in  40 
days  give  more  than  40  feet  of  elevation,  even  though  it  uni- 
formly covered  the  earth  and  the  seas.  And  although  six  feet  of 
water  should  so  fall  in  the  twenty  four  hours,  this  would  give 
only  240  feet  in  the  40  days  and  40  nights.  It  is  impossible  there- 
fore, that  the  rains  should  have  had  any  great  part  in  the  pro- 
ducing of  the  deluge.  Not  only  so,  but  we  also  know  (what 
Moses  and  Noah  probably  did  not  know)  that  in  times  of  con- 
tinued rain,  the  rainfall  of  today  was  produced  by  the  evapora- 
tions of  yesterday;  so  that,  although  the  great  and  continued 
rains  would  produce  inundations  on  land  and  in  the  rivers,  they 
could  not  elevate  at  all  the  surface  of  the  ocean  But  it  seems 
evident  that  Moses  himself  did  not  attribute  an  exaggerated  im- 
portance to  the  rain,  except  only  as  a  terrifying  accompaniment 


98  GENESIS 

of  the  flood;  because  he  joins  together  the  two  causes,  and 
makes  the  second  to  continue  in  active  operation  for  110  days 
after  the  great  rains  had  ceased;  during  which  time  the  waters 
continued  to  prevail  more  and  more  in  their  ascendant  course, 
until  they  swept  over  the  tops  of  the  loftiest  mountains.  It 
is  clear  and  undeniable,  therefore,  that  according  to  the  Bible 
itself,  the  true  cause  of  the  deluge  of  Noah,  was  "the  breaking 
up  of  all  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep,"  and  not  the  falling 
of  oceans  of  water  from  the  heavens,  where  they  had  been 
mysteriously  hidden  from  the  second  day  of  the  creation  (ch. 
1:6,  7),  as  Bishop  Amat  says;  and  others  also  have  said,  who 
are  not  bishops.  How  well,  then,  did  the  Spirit  of  God  guard 
the  pen  of  Moses,  and  of  the  other  writers  whom  he  inspired, 
that  they  should  not  fall  into  the  great  errors  of  many  of 
their  most  illustrious  commentators!  "Whoso  is  wise  let  him 
observe  these  things."    Ps.  107:  43. 

Let  us  investigate,  then,  what  were  those  "fountains  of  the 
great  deep,"  the  breaking  up  of  which,  in  all  their  extent,  was 
the  eflScient  and  principal  cause  of  the  production  of  waters 
sufl5cient  to  cover  the  inhabited  earth,  with  its  valleys  and 
mountains,  to  an  elevation  of  fifteen  cubits  above  their  highest 
summits.  Here  (as  in  the  narrative  of  the  creation)  the  sacred 
writer  describes  things  not  as  they  are  in  themselves,  but  ac- 
cording to  the  appearance  they  would  offer  to  the  eye  of  an 
observer.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  on  the  breaking  through  of 
the  dikes  of  the  sea,  the  earth  itself,  as  if  from  inexhaustible 
abysses,  would  appear  to  vomit  forth  seas  of  water;  a  thing  little 
less  horrifying,  to  one  who  should  witness  it,  than  the  falling 
of  the  "cataracts"  of  heaven.  We  know  that  no  such  great 
abysses  of  water  existed  beneath  the  dry  land;  as  illustrious 
commentators,  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  19th  century  have 
imagined;  but  we  also  know  that  the  appearance  of  the  thing 
would  be  the  same,  if  the  crust  of  the  inhabited  earth  were 
depressed  until  it  allowed  the  waters  of  the  seas  and  oceans 
to  rush  toward  the  center  of  that  depression;  which  we  would 
naturally  understand  to  be  the  center  of  the  population  of  the 
world  (undoubtedly  immense)  of  that  day.  Contrary  to  the 
popular  belief,  it  is  not  the  sea  level  which  is  unstable;  it  is 
the  dry  land  that  is  subject  always  to  the  movements  of  ele- 
vation or  depression,  due  to  its  interior  agitations;  whose 
seething  entrails  are  separated  from  the  surface  of  the  earth 
by  a  very  thin  crust  of  earthy  matter,  which  serves  also  as  a 
non-conductor  of  its  inconceivable  heats.  On  a  small  scale, 
this   crust   of   the    earth,    which    is    scarcely    one    five-hundredth 


CHAPTER  8:  1—14  99 

part  of  the  diameter  of  the  globe  (see  Note  on  Chaos,  p.  3), 
in  many  places  is  in  visible  m'ovement,  rising  or  falling;  and 
not  infrequently  it  has  been  raised  in  one  day  or  in  one  nighc 
to  a  great  height,  or  it  has  sunk  many  feet  beneath  the  sur- 
face of  the  ocean.  It  was  not  necessary,  therefore,  that  God 
should  have  done  more  than  to  cause  the  inhabited  earth,  with 
its  rivers,  mountains  and  cities,  to  sink  some  hundreds  or 
some  thousands  of  feet,  in  order  to  give  as  its  result  the  deluge 
which  Moses  describes,  with  all  the  appearances  of  an  inundation 
caused  by  cataracts  of  water  from  the  heavens  (a  constant 
accompaniment  of  great  earthquakes),  and  seas  of  waters 
vomited  forth  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth;  and  this  by  causes 
purely  natural  (though  directed  by  God's  especial  providence), 
and  without  in  the  least  interfering  with  the  established  laws 
of  nature,  or  causing  any  serious  variation  in  the  ordinary 
level  of  the  sea.  This  cataclysm,  therefore,  may  be  believed  to 
have  been  caused  by  the  gradual  submersion  of  the  crust  of  the 
earth,  in  the  part  then  inhabited,  beneath  the  level  of  the  ocean; 
and  the  termination  of  the  deluge  would  be  effected  by  just 
the  reverse  of  this;  to  wit,  the  gradual  elevation  of  the  crust 
of  the  earth,  more  or  less  to  its  former  level.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances, the  waters  of  the  deluge,  in  proportion  as  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  was  gradually  elevated,  would  "return  from 
off  the  earth  continually,"  as  says  the  text  (vr.  3),  to  the  seas 
and  oceans  from  whence  they  had  come;  the  absolute  quantity 
of  water  on  our  terraqueous  globe  remaining  unaltered  and  un- 
alterable, before  the  deluge,  during  the  deluge,  and  after  the 
deluge. 

[This  is  in  fact  what  has  often  happened  in  the  geological 
ages  of  the  past,  during  which  ocean  and  dry  land  have  changed 
places  repeatedly  and  successively,  in  almost  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Of  this,  the  coal  deposits  found  in  all  countries  (and 
in  England  mined  profitably  to  a  depth  of  4,000  feet  beneath 
the  surface),  buried  under  mountains  of  rock,  gravel,  clay  and 
earth,  afford  us  the  simplest  and  most  tangible  evidence;  they 
being  the  product  of  forests  and  fens  that  once  flourished  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth;  while  mountains  and  Cordilleras  bear 
up  into  the  regions  of  the  clouds,  the  rocky  remains  of  deposits 
long  ago  formed  in  the  bottom  of  seas  and  oceans.  The  fact 
that  these  alterations  have  been  for  the  most  part  slow  in 
their  operation,  does  not  materially  alter  the  case.  On  a  smaller 
scale,  these  alterations  of  sea  and  land,  even  in  our  own  day, 
are  sometimes  very  rapid,  being  effected  in  one  day,  or  a  single 
night— Tr.] 


100  GENESIS 

The  reader  should  not  regard  this  supposition  as  extravagant 
or  incredible;  for,  taking  in  his  hand  a  large  orange,  and  with 
his  two  thumbs  depressing  the  rind  on  one  side  until  it  forms 
a  cup,  capable  of  containing  one  or  two  tablespoonfuls  of  water, 
he  will  have  before  his  eyes  a  vivid  representation  of  what 
probably  happened  to  the  earth  in  the  days  of  Noah;  and 
with  God,  it  would  be  as  easy,  and  an  operation  as  natural 
(though  not  so  ordinary),  to  depress  many  thousand  square 
leagues  of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  as  it  is  for  the  reader  to 
make  his  cup  in  the  rind  of  the  orange.  He  ought,  on  the 
contrary,  to  bless  the  sustaining  and  patient  hand  of  God,  that 
he  does  not  permit  so  thin  a  crust  to  sink  beneath  the  weight 
of  the  abominations  of  men,  and  give  at  once  occasion  to  that 
deluge  of  fire  which  threatens  the  world  of  the  ungodly  in  the 
last  day.    2  Pet.  3:  6—14. 

The  terms  in  which  Moses  describes  the  end  of  the  flood 
correspond  exactly  with  the  supposition  that  the  cause  of  the 
catastrophe  was  the  depression  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  in 
its  inhabited  part,  and  that  its  end  was  brought  about  by  the 
contrary  operation, — the  gradual  elevation  of  the  depressed 
crust:  "And  the  waters  returned  from  off  the  earth  continually; 
and  after  the  end  of  150  days  the  waters  decreased."  Vr.  3. 
Here  we  can  almost  see  the  waters  as  they  returned  to  where 
they  had  formerly  been,  withdrawing  from  off  the  surface  oi; 
the  earth  with  a  constant  movement,  as  its  gradual  elevation 
threw  them  from  off  its  surface.  But  according  to  the  other  and 
the  ancient  belief,  that  the  whole  globe  was  covered  with  water 
sufficient  to  bury  oceans,  seas,  mountains,  valleys,  hills  and  plains 
in  a  winding  sheet  of  waters,  which  passed  15  cubits  above  the 
tops  of  the  Himalayas  and  the  Andes,  it  would  be  necessary 
to  create  for  this  purpose  a  quantity  of  water  many  times  greater 
than  the  totality  of  what  exists,  or  has  ever  existed  in  the 
world,  in  order  to  bury  it  thus;  and  this  for  the  purpose  of 
destroying  a  race  of  sinners  who  occupied  only  a  part,  and 
perhaps  a  small  part,  of  the  continent  of  Asia.  And  after  having 
effected  this  purpose,  with  so  prodigious  and  so  useless  an  ef- 
fort, what  would  become  of  such  quantities  of  water  when,  no 
longer  necessary?  Where  would  they  go?  How  would  they  re- 
turn from  off  the  earth?  And  ivhither  would  they  withdraw, 
until  the  drowned  earth  was  again  brought  into  the  condition  of 
"dry  land"? 

[Note  16. — On  the  testimony  of  the  Bible  as  to  the  universality 
of  the  Flood,  it  will  be  very  opportune  to  stop  here  and  duly 
weigh  the  testimony  of  the  Bible  itself  on  this  point;  because  for 


CHAPTER  8:  1—14  101 

the  true  Christian  the  testimony  of  God,  in  his  inspired  word, 
ought  to  outweigh  all  the  scientific  objections  and  difficulties 
which  may  be  brought  against  it;  and  there  are  very  estimable 
Christians  who  think  that  the  following  testimonies,  taken  from 
chapter  seventh,  are  sufncient  to  establish  solidly  and  forever 
the  fact  of  the  universality  of  the  Noachian  deluge,  not  only 
in  the  terms  of  the  geography  of  the  ancients,  but  of  modern 
geography  as  well:  to  wit,  (1)  vrs.  19,  20  of  chapter  7:  "And 
the  waters  prevailed  exceedingly  upon  the  earth;  and  all  the 
high  mountains  that  were  under  the  whole  heavens  were  covered. 
Fifteen  cubits  upward  did  the  waters  prevail,  and  the  mountains 
were  covered";  and  (2)  vrs.  21 — 23  of  the  same  chapter,  which 
I  do  not  cite,  on  account  of  their  length;  let  the  reader  turn 
back  and  look  at  the  passage  for  himself. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  for  Noah  and  for  Moses  the  flood 
was  universal  in  the  terms  of  their  geography ;  and  this  is  doubt- 
less what  Moses  in  his  history  desired  to  express.  But  it  Is 
necessary  to  remember  that  for  Moses  the  world  was  not  as 
large  as  it  is  for  us.  It  is  necessary  also  to  make  the  Bible 
consistent  with  itself.  In  Deut.  2:  25  Moses  said,  in  the  name 
of  Jehovah,  to  Israel:  "This  day  I  will  begin  to  put  the  dread 
of  thee  and  the  fear  of  thee  upon  the  people  that  are  under  the 
whole  heaven,  who  shall  hear  the  report  of  thee,  and  shall  tremble 
and  be  in  anguish  because  of  thee."  Now,  if  it  would  be  arrant 
nonsense  to  insist  that  in  this  Moses  includes  the  five  continents 
of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  America  and  Australia,  who  can  reason- 
ably insist  that  all  this,  and  nothing  less,  is  what  the  same 
Moses  means  in  ch.  7:  19,  20?  But  further,  1500  years  after 
Moses,  Luke  (in  Acts  2:5)  informs  us  that  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost  "there  were  dwelling  at  Jerusalem,  Jews,  devout  men 
from  every  nation  under  heaven."  Here  we  have  again  the  very 
same  terms  in  which  Moses  expresses  himself  in  regard  to  the 
extent  of  the  deluge  of  Noah.  But  if  the  man  would  be  esteemed 
a  simpleton  who  should  cite  Luke  to  prove  that  there  were 
then  in  Jerusalem  Jews  from  the  five  continents  mentioned, 
and  pledge  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  to  prove  that  from  all 
these  the  Jews  annually  went  up  to  attend  the  great  feasts 
of  their  nation  in  Jerusalem;  where  is  the  reason  or  the  good 
sense  of  pledging  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  to  prove  that 
in  the  days  of  Noah,  the  deluge  of  waters  passed  above  the 
most  elevated  mountains  of  all  these  five  continents?  We  must 
needs  understand  Moses,  and  the  Bible  in  general,  in  conformity 
with  their  manner  of  speaking,  and  not  with  our  own.  See 
also  Col.  1:  6,  23.     Compare  Luke  2:  1  and  Rom.  1:8.     It  is  not 


102  GENESIS 

BO  then,  but  just  the  opposite,  that  the  Bible  teaches  that  the 
waters  of  the  deluge  passed  over  the  universal  world.] 

"And  the  ark  rested  in  the  seventh  month,  on  the  17th 
day  of  the  month,  on  the  mountains  of  Armenia"  (Mod.  Span. 
Ver.;  Heb.  Ararat).  Vr.  4.  The  name  "Ararat"  occurs  four 
times  in  the  Hebrew  Bible:  here,  and  in  2  Kings  19:  37;  Isa. 
37:  38;  Jer.  51:  27.  In  the  last  three  passages  it  refers  to  the 
country  of  Armenia;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  such  ought  to 
be  the  translation  here  also.  There  is  a  universal  tradition  in  Ar- 
menia that  it  was  there  that  the  ark  of  Noah  rested.  Some  have 
thought  that  the  phrase  "the  mountains  of  Ararat"  refers  to  the 
two  peaks  of  that  name,  of  which  the  higher  rises  17,000  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea  (the  smaller  being  4,000  feet  lower),  but 
both  of  them  covered  with  perpetual  snows.  On  the  sloping 
sides  of  the  mountain  there  are  several  convents  of  Armenian 
monks,  some  of  whom  maintain,  with  many  absurd  stories,  the 
still  greater  absurdity  that  the  ark  of  Noah  came  to  a  stand 
on  the  top  of  the  loftier  peak,  and  that  it  still  remains  there; 
the  two  peaks  being  so  inaccessible  that  the  most  valiant 
climber  has  very  rarely  been  able  to  reach  the  top.  If  the  ark 
had  stopped  there,  then  in  the  first  place,  it  would  not  have 
been  possible  to  discharge  its  freight  of  living  beings  on  either 
of  the  two  peaks;  and  in  the  second  place,  men  and  animals 
would  have  perished  with  cold  before  they  could  have  commenced 
the  descent.  And  nevertheless  a  tradition  so  extremely  old, 
and  so  generalized,  may  well  have  some  basis  of  truth,  especially 
that  part  of  it  which  determines  the  southern  slope  of  Mt. 
Ararat  as  the  place  where  the  ark  finally  came  to  rest  and  dis- 
charged its  precious  cargo;  for  God  would  doubtless  have  pro- 
vided a  safe  landing-place  for  a  vessel  which  bore  within  it  the 
hopes  of  the  whole  world.  This  we  can  readily  believe;  al- 
though the  Bible  says  nothing  about  the  two  peaks  of  Ararat, 
but  only  that  the  ark  "rested  upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat,"  or 
Armenia.    Vr.  4. 

But  although  the  ark  did  finally  come  to  Its  rest  In  the 
mountain  country  of  Armenia,  or  on  the  sloping  sides  of  Mt. 
Ararat,  this  Is  the  real  difficulty,  and  it  is  seemingly  a  formida- 
ble one:  The  text  does  not  say  that  it  "rested"  there  at  the 
end  of  the  deluge,  but  "in  the  seventh  month,  and  on  17th 
day  of  the  month";  whereas  it  was  two  months  and  thirteen 
days  later,  "in  the  tenth  month,  and  on  first  day  of  the  month, 
that  the  tops  of  the  mountains  were  seen,"  Vr.  5.  We  have 
here  what  looks  like  a  hopeless  muddle,  or  an  egregious  blunder, 
which  the  infidel  sets  down  to  the  account  of  "the  mistakes  of 


CHAPTER  8:  1—14  103 

Moses,"  and  the  commentators,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able 
to  consult  them,  either  skip  the  difficulty,  or  help  to  confuse 
you  with  incredible  suppositions;  and  yet  its  proper  and  satis- 
factory resolution  comes  to  prove  in  a  surprising  manner  the 
authenticity  of  this  history  and  its  minute  accuracy.  After 
days  and  weeks  of  prolonged  study,  testing  one  by  one  every 
supposable  clew  to  the  enigma,  I  was  surprised  to  find  that 
the  "invincible  difficulty"  resolves  itself,  when  you  take  the 
record  just  as  it  reads,  and  at  the  same  time  correct  the  com- 
mon misunderstanding  of  the  word  "rested."  There  is  nothing 
in  the  record  itself,  nor  in  the  use  of  the  Hebrew  word  nouah, 
to  suggest  the  idea  that  it  came  to  its  final  resting  place,  or  that 
it  "rested"  more  than  a  few  moments,  a  few  hours,  or  possibly 
a  few  days;  the  purpose  of  that  mention  being  subsequently 
given. 

To  clear  up  then  this  formidable  difficulty,  and  bring  out  in 
Bafety  the  seemingly  endangered  truth,  and  at  the  same  time 
vindicate  the  minute  accuracy  of  this  divinely  inspired  history, 
let  us  fix  in  our  minds  the  following  data:  1st.  The  dates 
given  are  all  alike  stated  in  months  and  days  of  the  600th 
and  601st  years  of  the  life  of  Noah.  2nd.  The  ancient  year 
consisted  of  360  days,  or  twelve  months  of  thirty  days  each. 
3rd.  As  the  ark  could  not  rest  on  all  the  mountains  of  Armenia, 
let  it  be  (as  the  monks  and  local  tradition  affirm)  that  it 
"rested"  on  the  most  elevated  one  of  them  all,  which  raises 
its  hoary  head  8,000  or  10,000  feet  above  the  surrounding  moun- 
tains of  that  mountainous  country.  4th.  The  "rest"  of  the 
ark  on  this  elevated  summit,  16,815  or  as  others  affirm,  17,500 
feet  high,  was  not  permanent,  as  the  word  is  generally  assumed 
to  mean;  the  ark  merely  lodged  there,  and  then  descended  with 
the  receding  waters  to  the  convenient  place  which  God  had 
prepared  for  it  to  discharge  its  priceless  burden,  on  the  sloping 
sides  of  the  mountain,  or  on  the  elevated  table-lands  around 
it.  This  is  self-evident  when  we  consider  the  date  on  which  the 
ark  so  "rested,"  to  wit,  "the  17th  day  of  the  seventh  month"; 
precisely  five  months,  or  150  days,  after  the  flood  began,  when 
"in  the  600th  year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the  second  month  and  17th 
day  of  the  month,  all  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  were 
broken  up  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened"  (ch.  7:  11); 
— the  same  150  days  that  "the  waters  prevailed  on  the  earth" 
in  their  ascendant  course  (ch.  7:  23),  and  "after  the  end  of 
which  150  days,  the  waters  began  to  decrease"  (vr.  3) ;  being 
just  then  at  their  greatest  elevation, — 15  cubits  above  the  high- 
est mountains.     Ch.  6:  20.     At  that  precise  time,  therefore,  the 


104  GENESIS 

ark  was  floating  in  waters  v.iiich,  on  that  very  day  attained 
the  limit  of  their  proud  dominion,  15  cubits  above  the  lofty 
summit  of  Mt.  Ararat;  and  it  was  morally  impossible  that  God 
should  allow  it  to  "rest"  more  than  a  few  minutes,  or  a  few 
hours,  on  those  inaccessible  heights;  but  when  Noah  and  his 
family  became  fully  sensible  of  its  grounding  there,  it  disengaged 
itself  from  that  most  perilous  situation,  and  slowly  descended 
with  the  decreasing  waters  of  the  flood. 

It  seems  to  me  a  wonderful  thing  this  mention  that  the 
waters  passed  precisely  15  cubits  above  the  tops  of  the  most 
elevated  mountains.  Why  not  say  30  cubits?  Why  not  50,  or 
100?  They  passed  4000  feet  above  the  summit  of  the  lesser 
Ararat,  which  is  that  much  lower  than  the  other,  and  probably 
8,000  or  10,000  feet  above  the  tops  of  the  surrounding  moun- 
tains, which  are  like  pigmies  in  the  presence  of  these  two  un- 
rivaled mountain  peaks.  But  why  just  15  cubits  or  tioenty-two 
and  a  half  feet,  above  the  most  elevated  of  them  all?  Who 
was  there  to  answer  for  this  number  so  precisely  given?  It 
was  not  a  guess,  surely.  It  would  be  unlike  anything  else  in 
the  Bible  for  God  to  communicate  to  Noah  this  special  bit  of 
information,  for  him  to  transmit  it  to  posterity;  the  more  so 
as  the  fact  lay  within  his  own  ken;  and  this  furnishes  us 
with  a  solution  of  the  whole  difficulty  which  we  are  trying  to 
unravel.  Noah  and  his  family  knew  perfectly  well  that  their 
ark  was  30  cubits  in  height,  and  if  they  did  not  know  that  their 
loaded  vessel  would  draw  about  the  half  of  its  height,  they 
could  easily  have  informed  themselves  of  the  fact  by  the  water- 
line,  when  they  went  forth  out  of  it  after  the  flood;  and  they 
would  know,  without  the  help  of  revelation,  that  when  the 
ark  lodged  momentarily  upon,  the  summit  of  Ararat  (the  only 
land  on  which  it  could  thus  have  grazed  in  all  Western  Asia) 
73  days  before  the  tops  of  the  surrounding  mountains  were 
seen  (vrs.  4,  5),  at  that  very  time  the  waters  stood  as  many 
cubits  above  the  inaccessible  summit  as  their  loaded  vessel 
drew.  What  more  proof  could  a  reasonable  man  ask  for?  for 
without  being  a  ship-builder  or  a  mariner,  anybody  might  know, 
or  might  find  out,  that  the  ark  would  draw  more  or  less  the 
half  of  Its  height.  And  thus  it  appears  to  me  that  "victory  Is 
plucked  out  of  the  hands  of  defeat,"  and  that  out  of  a  seem- 
ingly hopeless  tangle,  which  unbelievers  would  represent  as 
prima  facie  evidence  of  falsehood  or  of  foolish  guesswork,  1b 
drawn  an  unanswerable  proof  of  the  minute  accuracy  of  this 
true  history,  by  means  of  two  circumstances  which  no  writer 
of  fiction  would  ever,  or  could  ever,  have  invented. 


CHAPTER  8:  1—14  105 

Keeping  in  view  these  data,  let  us  fix  attention  on  the  fol- 
lowing points,  which  we  cannot  remember  too  well:  1.  The 
flood  began  on  the  17th  day  of  the  second  month  of  the  GOOth 
year  of  the  life  of  Noah.  2.  It  rained  in  torrents  40  days  and 
40  nights;  but  the  waters  continued  to  advance  just  the  same 
after  the  rain  ceased,  in  virtue  of  the  first  of  the  two  causes 
given  by  Moses,  to  wit,  the  "breaking  up  of  all  the  fountains 
of  the  great  deep";  and  they  reached  their  greatest  elevation 
in  150  days.  3.  Precisely  at  this  juncture,  exactly  five  months, 
or  150  days,  after  the  flood  commenced,  on  the  17th  day  of  the 
seventh  month,  the  ark  grounded  and  rested  momentarily  upon 
the  most  elevated  peak  in  all  that  part  of  the  world,  with  which 
no  other  in  all  Western  Asia  can  compare,  the  giant  Ararat; 
and  the  circumstance  that  it  sufiiered  no  injury  thereby,  strik- 
ing in  such  a  way  that  everybody  was  conscious  of  the  shock, 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  it  did  not  come  down  in  full  weight, 
or  strike  with  full  force,  but  merely  grazed  or  grounded,  lohile 
floating  in  fifteen  cubits  of  water.  4.  Just  then,  "at  the  end 
of  the  150  days,  the  waters  began  to  decrease."  Ch.  8:  3.  "And 
the  waters  decreased  continually,"  for  two  months  and  thirteen 
days  more,  until  "in  the  tenth  month  and  the  first  day  of  the 
month" — seven  months  and  thirteen  days  after  the  flood  began — 
the  waters,  having  descended  8,000  feet  or  more,  the  tops  of 
the  mountains  around  were  visible;  a  very  different  thing  from 
seeing,  or  being  able  to  see,  the  two  elevated  peaks  of  Ararat. 
5.  Forty  days  later,  that  is  to  say,  on  the  263rd  day,  Noah 
opened  the  window  he  had  made  in  the  ark,  and  sent  forth  a 
raven;  which  being  an  unclean  bird,  and  strong  of  wing,  kept 
going  back  and  forth  to  the  roof  of  the  ark,  without  entering 
It,  finding  abundant  subsistence  on  the  fishes  that  died  by  the 
thousand,  on  dry  land,  with  the  descent  of  the  waters.  6.  On 
the  270th  day,  seven  days  after  sending  forth  the  raven  (as  we 
infer  from  verse  10,  "he  waited  other  seven  days"),  he  let  loose 
a  dove,  in  quest  of  the  information  the  raven  failed  to  bring 
him;  to  wit,  to  know  whether  the  "waters  were  abated  from  off 
the  face  of  the  ground"  (vr.  8) :  but  low-lands,  hills  and  elevated 
table-lands  were  all  as  yet  sunk  In  the  waters;  and  the  frightened 
dove  soon  returned  to  seek  admittance  beside  its  mate,  "without 
finding  rest  for  the  sole  of  its  foot."  Vr.  7.  7.  Noah  waited 
seven  days  longer,  and  sent  forth  the  dove  a  second  time  (vr. 
10);  this  was  on  the  277th  day  of  the  deluge:  and  at  the  even- 
ing It  brought  In  its  beak  a  fresh  olive  leaf  plucked  off;  "so 
Noah  knew  that  the  waters  were  abated  from  off  the  earth." 
8.    On  the  284th  day,  seven  days  later,  when  the  dove  was  again 


106  GENESIS 

Bent  forth,  it  did  not  any  more  return  to  him.  9.  Twenty-nine 
days  after  this,  on  the  first  day  of  the  first  month  of  the  601st 
year  of  Noah's  life,  that  is,  313  days  after  the  flood  began, 
Noah  removed  the  covering  of  the  ark  and  "loolied,  and  behold 
the  face  of  the  ground  was  dry" — in  those  lofty  regions.  The 
face  of  the  ground  on  those  elevated  plains  and  valleys  of 
Armenia,  is  seven  or  eight  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea;  so  that  the  low-lands  and  extended  plains  of  the  far 
off  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris  would  still  remain  buried  in 
the  waters.  10.  Fifty-seven  days  later,  in  the  second  month 
and  the  27th  day  of  the  month  of  the  601st  year  of  Noah, 
the  earth  was  well  dried  (at  least  in  those  mountain  regions), 
and  God  commanded  Noah  to  go  forth  out  of  the  ark.  Vra. 
14—17. 

Here  we  admire  that  wise  providence  of  God,  which  directed 
the  ark  to  those  elevated  regions  of  Armenia,  as  a  land  of 
promise  for  Noah  and  his  family,  who  for  more  than  one  year 
had  been  shut  up  in  the  ark: — lands  high  and  healthy  at  any 
time,  but  especially  healthy  after  such  an  inundation  as  that; 
for  a  long'  while  the  level  lands  would  be  pestilential,  and  it 
is  probable  that  Noah  and  his  descendants  remained  some 
years  among  these  mountains,  before  venturing  to  descend  into 
the  more  fertile  but  less  healthy  lands  of  the  Tigris  and  Eu- 
phrates.    So  ch.  11:  2  seems  to  imply. 

The  long  patience  of  this  great  servant  of  God  is  well  worthy 
of  fixing  our  attention,  based  as  it  was  on  his  triumphant 
faith  in  him.  Noah  was  not  impatient  to  go  out  of  the  ark 
for  the  space  of  seven  months  and  fourteen  days  after  the  tops 
of  the  mountains  all  around  were  visible;  nor  for  a  month 
and  twenty-seven  days  after  he  had  removed  the  covering  of 
the  ark  and  seen  for  himself  that  "the  face  of  the  earth  was 
dried."  Vr.  13.  God  himself  had  shut  him  in,  and  with  im- 
perturbable calmness  he  waited  until  God  himself  should  open 
the  door  and  give  him  order  to  go  forth.  Nor  is  less  certain 
or  less  secure  that  providence  of  God  (though  less  conspicuous) 
with  all  his  people,  which  "orders  our  steps,"  "directs  our 
paths,"  and  "chooses  for  us  the  changes"  of  our  mortal  life;  and 
it  is  extremely  important  that  we  learn  in  Noah  how  "good  it 
is  to  hope,  and  silently  (M.  S.  V.)  wait  for  the  salvation  of 
Jehovah."  Lam.  3:  25,  26.  "He  that  helieveth  shall  not  make 
haste."     Isa.  28:  16. 

God's  long  delay  to  bring  forth  the  men  and  animals  out 
of  the  ark,  for  nearly  two  months  after  it  was  declared  that 
"the  face  of  the  ground  was  dry,"  places  also  in  very  clear  re- 


CHAPTER  8:  15—19  107 

lief  how  improbable  in  itself  is  the  opinion  of  those  who  main- 
tain that  the  work  of  creation  was  consummated  in  six  days 
of  twenty-four  hours;  and  that  in  three  days  (or  seventy-two 
hours)  after  God  had  raised  the  dry  land  from  beneath  the 
waters,  he  placed  man  there  in  a  paradise  of  delights. 

Before  we  pass  onward,  it  will  be  worth  while  to  state  the 
Interesting  fact  that  some  parts  of  that  immense  territory 
which  we  suppose  to  have  been  depressed  in  order  to  cause 
the  deluge,  remain  still  below  the  level  of  the  ocean;  as  if 
when  the  depressed  crust  of  the  earth  rose  again,  some  parts 
of  it  never  regained  their  former  elevation.  The  surface  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  called  in  the  Bible  the  Salt  Sea,  is  1300  feet  below 
the  level  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  Sea  of  Galilee  is  at  least 
600  feet  lower  than  the  ocean  level;  and  the  same  is  true  of 
the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  lying  between  the  two,  being  from 
600  to  1300  feet  below  the  sea  level.  The  Caspian  Sea,  situated 
but  a  short  distance  to  the  east  of  Mt.  Ararat,  is  80  feet  lower 
than  the  ocean;  and  what  is  more,  Herodotus,  "the  Father  of 
History"  (490 — 409  B.  C.)  describes  the  Caspian  Sea  as  then 
covering  an  extent  of  territory  several  times  greater  than  its 
present  surface.* 

8:  15 — 19.     NOAH  AND  HIS  FAMHY  AND  THE  ANIMALS  GO  FORTH  OUT 
OF  THE  AEK.     (2347  B.   C.) 

15     And  God  spake  unto  Nonh,  saying, 

10  Go  forth  from  the  ark,  thou,  and  thy  wife,  and  thy  sons,  and 
thy  sons'  wives  with  thee. 

17  Bring  forth  with  thee  every  living  thing  that  is  with  thee  of 
all  flesh,  both  birds,  and  cattle,  and  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth 
upon  the  earth  ;  that  rhey  may  breed  abundantly  in  the  earth,  and  be 
fruitful,  and  multiply  upon  the  enrth. 

18  And  Noah  went  forth,  and  his  sons,  and  his  wife,  and  his  sons' 
wives  with  him  : 

19  every  beast,  every  creeping  thing,  and  every  bird,  whatsoever 
moveth  upon  the  earth,  after  their  families,  went  forth  out  of  the 
ark. 

In  the  601st  year  of  the  life  of  Noah,  "in  the  second  month 
and  the  27th  day  of  the  month" — one  year  and  ten  days  after 
the  beginning  of  the  deluge,  one  year  and  seventeen  days  after 
Jehovah  had  shut  them  in  the  ark — God  opened  the  door  and 
gave  orders  that  he  and  all  that  were  with  him  in  the  ark 
should  go  forth.  To  these,  both  men  and  animals,  he  repeated 
the  command  which  he  imposed  on  them  from  the  beginning 
(ch.  1:  22 — 28),  and  which  he  repeats  to  them  in  ch.  9:  1,  to 
be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth.  It  might 
be  supposed  that  it  would  have  been  sufficient  to  leave  this  to 

*See  footnote  on  p.  109. 


108  GENESIS 

the  natural  instinct  of  procreation;  but  God  held  it  convenient 
to  impose  it  as  a  positive  obligation;  and  both  the  word  of 
God,  and  the  history  of  the  world,  and  the  moral  necessities 
of  modern  society,  make  patent  the  fact  that  this  obligation  is 
as  binding  today  as  when  God  laid  it  upon  the  ci'eatures  at  the 
creation  and  after  the  flood. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  command  cannot  be  alleged  in 
favor  of  the  illicit  union  of  unmarried  persons;  because  God, 
who  has  made  to  the  man  so  incomparable  gift  ag  the  woman, 
to  be  his  companion  and  helper,  reserves  to  himself  alone  the 
right  of  regulating  the  relations  which  should  subsist  between 
the  two;  and  in  his  name  the  apostle  says:  "Let  marriage  be 
honorable  among  all — laymen  and  clergy  alike — and  let  the 
(conjugal)  bed  be  undefiled;  for  fornicators  (on  the  one  hand), 
and  adulterers  (on  the  other),  God  will  judge."     Heb.  13:  4. 

In  fact,  men  and  animals  went  forth  out  of  the  ark  upon 
those  high  lands  of  Armenia,  in  some  convenient  point  which 
God  had  chosen  for  them,  rather  than  upon  the  top  of  some 
mountain;  and  from  thence  they  were  distributed  over  the  de- 
populated earth. 

[Note  17. — On  the  Deluge  in  general.  The  historic  certainty 
of  the  deluge  of  Noah  finds  its  confirmation  in  the  traditions 
of  it  which  exist  among  all  nations,  and  in  all  ages;  but  with 
such  variations  and  with  such  a  mixture  of  the  fabulous  as 
was  to  be  expected.  This  is  very  natural,  as  they  all  proceeded 
from  the  trunk  of  Noah.  Some  of  these  traditions  preserve  the 
very  name  of  Noah,  and  almost  all  of  them  agree  in  the  total 
destruction  of  men  by  water,  on  account  of  their  wickedness, 
and  in  the  salvation  of  a  single  family.  But  the  proof  of  proofs 
for  Christian  men  is  the  Bible  itself,  which  is  the  word  of 
God,  and  the  frequent  mention  It  makes  of  the  deluge;  and 
above  all  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ  with  regard  to  Noah, 
his  ark,  the  carelessness  and  irreligion  of  men  in  those  days, 
and  "the  flood  which  came  and  took  them  all  away."  Matt.  24: 
37—39;  Luke  17:  26,27.  If  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ  itself 
is  not  sufficient  to  establish  the  certainty  and  the  historic 
character  of  all  this,  pray,  for  what  is  it  suflacient?  He,  him- 
self, says:  "If  I  have  told  you  earthly  things  and  ye  believe 
not,  how  shall  ye  believe  if  I  tell  you  heavenly  things?"  John 
3:12. 

The  physical  cause  of  the  deluge,  as  has  already  been  said 
(pp.  97 — 100),  was  probably,  or  certainly,  the  sinking  of  the 
thin  crust  of  the  then  inhabited   earth,  and   its  submersion  be- 


CHAPTER  8:  15—19  109 

ncath  tbe  waters  of  tlie  ocean,*  where  it  had  been  before  (ch. 
1:9),  followed  by  its  gradual  elevation  to  more  or  less  its 
former  state;  the  cataclysm  being  accompanied,  as  is  usual 
T.ith  great  earthquakes,  by  prodigious  rains.  It  has  already 
been  noted  {^ote  1,  on  Chaos,  p.  3),  that  only  a  thin  crust 
of  earthy  matter  separates  the  surface  of  the  earth  on  which 
we  dwell  from  the  incandescent  mass  that  fills  it,  which  crust 
serves  as  a  non-conductor  for  its  inconceivable  heats;  some 
calculating  that  this  crust  is  twenty  miles  in  thickness,  and 
others  that  it  is  fifty:  so  that  nothing  would  be  easier  in  the 
hand  of  God,  than  that,  according  as  in  the  work  of  creation 
he  made  this  submerged  crust  to  rise,  by  means  of  internal 
upheavals,  from  out  of  the  midst  of  the  waters  (ch.  1:  9),  so 
he  should  make  it  to  sink  temporarily,  in  the  days  of  Noah, 
and  after  some  months  to  rise  again  to  its  former  level. 

With  regard  to  the  extent  of  the  deluge,  although  in  ages 
past  (by  reason  of  the  prevailing  ignorance  of  the  phenomena 
of  nature,  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other,  of  the  consequent 
neglect  to  take  account  of  all  the  data  which  the  Bible  itself 
furnishes  us  upon  these  points)  it  was  thought  certain  that 
the  whole  world  was*  covered  five  miles  deep  with  a  mass  of 
waters,  which  came  from  somewhere,  and  afterwards  went 
away  somewhere;  the  difficulties  of  this  opinion  are  in  our 
day  so  obvious,  and  are  seen  to  be  so  formidable,  that  among 
persons  of  intelligence  and  culture  the  theory  is  at  present 
almost  completely  abandoned;  all  the  more  since  a  more  care- 
ful examination  of  the  Bible  itself  makes  it  evident  that  it 
only  teaches  that  the  flood  was  universal  with  respect  to  man 
who  had  sinned,  and  who  was  to  be  destroyed,  but  not  with 
respect  to  the  world  as  we  know  it.     See  Note  16,  p.  100.] 

♦Since  the  Spanish  original  of  this  paragraph  was  written,  the  re- 
searches of  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  Frederick  Wright  (of  Oberlin  College, 
Ohio),  in  Siberia  and  the  north  of  Asia,  have  brought  to  us  new  and 
unexpected  proofs  that  the  Caspian  and  Aral  Seas  were,  at  a  time  not 
greatly  removed  from  us,  in  free  connection  with  the  Arctic  Ocean,  seals 
and  otber  denizens  of  that  ocean  being  found  in  them,  while  "loess"  or 
alluvium,  deposited  on  mountains  and  plains  as  much  as  4000  feet  above 
the  ocean  level,  shows  conclusively  that  at  that  time  the  crust  of  the 
earth  in  that  part  of  the  continent  of  Asia  was  at  least  so  far  depressed 
below  the  level  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  then  raised  again.  These  and 
other  proofs  which  cannot  here  be  detailed,  would  go  to  show  that  In 
the  days  of  Noah,  the  waters  of  the  flood  came  at  least  in  part  from 
that  northern  ocean  ;  I  say,  "in  the  days  of  Noah,"  because  that  epoch 
will  suit  the  discoveries  made  as  well  as  any  other,  and  la  In  full 
accord   with    the   Bible    narrative. — Tr. 


110  GENESIS 

8:  20 — 22.     the  altak.     the  promise.      (2347  b.  c.) 

20  And  Noah  builded  an  altar  unto  Jehovah,  and  took  of  every 
clean  beast,  and  of  every  clean  bird,  and  oU'erod  burnt-offerings  on  the 
altar. 

21  And  Jehovah  smelled  the  sweet  savor ;  and  Jehovah  said  in  his 
heart,  I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground  any  more  for  man's  sake,  for 
that  the  imagination  of  man's  heart  is  evil  from  his  youth ;  neither 
will  I  again  smite  any  more  everything  living,  as  I  have  done. 

22  While  the  earth  remaineth,  seedtime  and  harvest,  and  cold 
and  heat,  and  summer  and  winter,  and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease. 

We  have  here  our  first  notice  of  the  altar;  although  it  is 
evident  that  the  sacrifices  offered  from  the  days  of  Abel,  or 
from  the  banishment  of  Adam  and  Eve  from  paradise,  must 
have  been  reduced  to  ashes  upon  altars  of  some  sort.  This 
altar,  since  it  was  "builded,"  must  have  been  of  stone,  though 
rude  in  its  form.  In  Ex.  20:  24,  25,  God  prescribes  "an  altar 
of  earth"  as  the  altar  of  his  preference;  and  if  not  this,  he 
says  that  It  must  be  of  rough,  unhewn  stones.  Upon  such 
an  altar,  then,  when  they  went  forth  out  of  the  ark,  Noah  of- 
fered whole  burnt  offerings  of  every  clean  animal  and  of  every 
clean  bird.  In  the  Levitical  Law,  a  "clean  animal"  signifies 
one  of  whose  flesh,  it  was  lawful  to  eat  (Lev.  11:47);  and 
here  it  probably  refers  to  the  still  more  reduced  number  of 
these  which  were  proper  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice  to  God;  be- 
cause ch.  9:3  expressly  sanctioned  the  eating  of  any  and  every 
kind  of  animal  food. 

"Jehovah  smelled  the  sweet  savor."  As  the  smell  of  burning 
flesh  and  bone  is,  on  the  contrary,  most  ungrateful  to  the 
sense  of  smell,  this  phrase,  so  often  used  in  the  Bible,  and  which 
occurs  here  for  the  first  time,  is  very  significant.  The*  Hebrew 
says  "a  smell  of  rest";  as  if  He,  who  "delighteth  in  mercy" 
(Mic.  7:  18),  satiated  and  even  wearied  of  the  terrible  triumph 
of  avenging  justice  over  a  world  of  proud,  impious  and  un- 
bridled sensualists,  craved  rest,  and  smelled  with  supreme 
pleasure  and  satisfaction  the  odor  of  sacrifice,  which,  as  amends 
rendered  to  offended  justice,  caused  his  wrath  to  rest.  How 
beautiful  is  this  thought,  and  how  full  of  evangelical  unction 
is  this  conception  of  the  ancient  bloody  sacrifices,  which  we 
find  yonder  in  the  dawn  of  the  divine  revelation!  Well  has 
Moses  said  with  regard  to  that  God,  his  own  and  ours,  who 
"so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  own  begotten  Son"  for 
its  redemption,  that  "Jehovah  smelled  the  sweet  savor;  and 
Jehovah  said  in  his  heart:  I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground 
any  more  for  man's  sake;"  who  had  now  showed  himself  to 
be  incorrigibly  v/icked.     When  again  God  made  a  sacrifice  on  a 


CHAPTER  8:  20—22  111 

grand  scale  to  divine  justice,  it  was  that  of  his  own  Son,  "upon 
whom  Jehovah  laid  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  Isa.  53:  6.  This 
explains,  at  least  in  part,  that  mystery  of  Isa.  53:  10,  "li  pleased 
Jehovah  to  bruise  him,  he  hath  put  him  to  grief."  In  view  of 
this,  prefigured  by  that  "sweet  savor,"  God  said  that  he  would 
suffer  the  wickedness  of  men,  and  bless  them,  in  virtue  of  that 
sacrifice;  and  that  he  would  not  for  their  sakes  again  disturb 
the  ordinary  course  of  nature.  But  not  on  this  account  is  the 
arm  of  divine  justice  paralyzed,  that  at  last,  in  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  ages,  he  should  not  destroy  the  world  of  the  un- 
godly,— the  living  and  the  dead — with  a  deluge  of  fire;  that 
in  its  stead  "he  may  extend  (once  more)  the  heavens,  and 
lay  (again)  the  foundations  of  the  earth"  (Isa.  51:  16);  "creat- 
ing new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness."   2  Pet.  3:  7,  10,  13;   Isa.  65:  17—19;   66:  22. 

[Note  18. — On  the  miraculous  character  of  the  Creation  and 
the  Deluge.  There  are  Christians,  and  very  sincere  ones,  who 
look  with  eyes  askance  upon  every  attempt  to  diminish  the 
sphere  of  the  miraculous  in  the  Bible.  For  them,  God  com- 
manded, and  in  the  opening  and  shutting  of  an  eye  were  brought 
to  pass  successively  the  stupendous  changes  detailed  in  the 
six  days  work  of  creation — ordinary  days  of  twenty-four  hours — 
as  related  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis:  and  in  the  days  of 
Noah,  God  commanded,  and  waters  came  from  somewhere  (or 
were  created  for  this  purpose),  which  covered  the  whole  world 
five  or  six  miles  deep;  and  when  God  again  commanded,  they 
withdrew,  nobody  knows  where  (or  were  uncreated),  in  order 
to  relieve  the  world  of  their  presence;  and  nothing  less  than 
this  will  meet  their  idea  of  a  miracle.  And  with  regard  to 
the  work  of  creation,  they  ask:  "Why  is  it  not  more  simple 
and  easy  to  believe  that  God  created  the  world  in  statu  quo, 
such  as  we  find  it  today,  or  such  as  Adam  found  it  in  the  day 
that  he  was  made,  144  hours  after  God  began  the  work  of 
creation?  Besides  the  Scriptural  and  unanswerable  reasons  al- 
ready given  in  the  first  chapter,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  assign 
here  this  comprehensive  reason:  because  God  cannot  act  a  lie. 
If  he  had  created  the  crust  of  the  earth,  as  it  is  today,  with 
the  evident  signs  of  the  action  of  fire,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  water,  on  the  other;  with  rocks  come  forth  from  the  bowels 
of  the  earth  in  molten  form,  and  sedimentary  rocks  deposited 
in  strata,  in  the  depths  of  the  rivers  and  seas,  with  leaves, 
wood,  fishes  and  shells  of  innumerable  kinds  incrusted  in  them; 
if  he  had  made  whole  mountains  composed  in  the  larger  part 
of    marine    shells,    and    should    scatter    with    full    hands    and 


112  GENESIS 

by  the  million  (as  I  have  seen  them  on  the  slopes  of  the  Andes) 
round  limestone  nodules,  having  within  each  of  them  a  delicate 
sea-shell — principally  ammonites;  and  if  he  should  put  leaves, 
shells,  boughs  and  even  trunks  of  trees  in  the  mines  of  mineral 
coal,  created  just  as  they  stand,  hundreds  and  even  thousands 
of  feet  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth,  out  of  pure  caprice; 
what  would  this  be  hut  to  act  a  lie,  with  the  sole  purpose  and 
effect  of  confounding  and  misleading  his  intelligent  creatures  in 
their  investigation  of  his  works?  No;  Ood  could  not  create  the 
world  just  as  it  is,  without  writing  lies  on  every  page  of  the 
book  of  nature!  He  therefore  did  not  do  it.  We  believe  in 
the  miracle  of  the  Deluge  and  in  the  miracle  of  Creation,  but  not 
in  the  above  said  form;  and  we  believe  in  the  coming  miracle 
of  the  Second  Creation — the  most  stupendous  miracle  of  the 
ages,  which  is  almost  entirely  lost  sight  of,  or  ignored,  by 
the  larger  part  of  Christian  people,  in  our  day;  though  the 
angels,  yonder  in  heaven,  wait  for  it  with  holy  and  almost 
impatient  curiosity  (1  Pet.  1:12);  though  the  saints  in  glory 
wait  for  it  with  earnest  desire  (Rom.  8:  18,  23 — 25);  although 
the  material  creation,  groaning  beneath  the  curse  of  man's  sin, 
waits,  with,  outstretched  neck,  the  time  of  its  coming  (Rom. 
8:  19 — 22);  and  Christ  the  Lord,  "seated  on  his  Father's  throne" 
waits  for  the  time  of  its  advent  (Heb.  10:  13)  as  the  day  of 
his  glory  and  his  power,  "the  day  of  the  gladness  of  his  heart" 
and  of  "the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb."  Rev.  3:  21;  Matt. 
19:  28;  25:  31;  Rev.  19:  7,  9.  Christian  people  strangely  over- 
look the  fact  that  that  day  is  as  future  to  "the  man  Christ  Jesus," 
as  it  is  to  us.] 

CHAPTER  IX. 

VBS.  1 — 7.  THE  DOMINIOlSr  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD,  IS  GIVEN  TO  NOAH 
AND  HIS  SONS,  WITH  THE  LIBERTY  TO  EAT  OF  EVERY  LIVING  THING, 
EXCEPTING  ONLY  THE  BLOOD;  WHICH,  AS  A  SACRIFICE  FOR  SIN, 
WAS  TO  BE  HELD  SACRED  TO  GOD.       (2347  B.  C.) 

1  And  God  blessed  Noah  and  liis  sons,  and  said  unto  them,  Be 
fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth. 

2  And  the  fear  of  you  and  the  dread  of  you  shall  be  upon  every 
beast  of  the  earth,  and  upon  every  bird  of  the  heavens :  with  all 
wherewith  the  ground  teemeth,*  and  all  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  into  your 
hand  are  they  delivered. 

3  Every  moving  thing  that  liveth  shall  be  food  for  you ;  as  the 
green  herb  have  I  given  you  all. 

4  But  flesh  with  the  life  thereof,  which  is  the  blood  thereof,  shall 
ye  not  eat. 

5  And  surely  your  blood,  the  Hood  of  your  lives,  will  I  require; 

*M.  ^.  V.  all  that  creeps  upon  the  ground  (:=  reptiles). 


CHAPTER  9:  1—7  113 

at  the  hand  of  every  beast  will  I  require  it :  and  at  the  hand  of  man, 
even  at  the  hand  of  every  man's  brother,  will  I  require  the  life  of  man. 

0  Whoso  shedd'eth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed : 
for  in  the  image  of  God  made  he  man. 

7  And  you,  be  ye  fruitful,  and  multiply ;  bring  forth  abundantly 
in  the  earth,  and  multiply  therein. 

This  was  a  new  beginning  of  the  race;  not  as  before  in  a 
single  pair  without  children,  but  in  a  single  pair  with  three 
married  sons,  but  without  children;  and  these,  taught  by  pain- 
ful experience  as  to  the  terrible  effects  of  sin,  in  the  past  his- 
tory of  1600  years,  and  solemnly  warned  by  the  terrific  judg- 
ment which  God  has  just  brought  on  that  world  of  sinners. 
So  to  say,  God  begins  here,  with  the  Flood,  a  new  experiment, 
the  third  (see  p.  S7),  with  regard  to  the  irremediable  wicked- 
ness of  the  fallen  human  race.  It  might  well  have  been  said: 
"With  such  a  lesson  as  the  last,  of  courre  this  experiment 
will  be  successful!"  But  Jehovah  had  already  said  that  the 
race  was  totally  corrupt,  and  that  no  cood  thing  could  be  hoped 
from  it.  Ch.  8:  21.  Comp.  ch.  6:  3,  5 — 7.  God  blessed  this  new 
father  of  the  race  and  his  three  sons,  and  he  gave  them  the 
sovereignty  over  all  he  had  created,  as  before  he  had  given  it  to 
Adam.    Ch.  1:  28. 

It  is  not  to  be  believed  (as  we  have  already  seen  in  the  case 
of  Abel  and  his  sheep,  p.  51),  that  prior  to  this  there  existed 
a  prohibition  against  the  use  of  animal  food;  although  it  is 
probable  that  just  and  temperate  men  used  it  with  much  modera- 
tion; as  was  the  usage  of  the  patriarchs,  and  still  is  of  the 
nomadic  tribes  of  the  East.  But  now,  and  without  the  distinc- 
tions, which  the  Mosaic  law  subsequently  imposed,  of  clean  and 
unclean  animals,  God  authorized  the  use  of  any  kind  of  flesh 
that  men  might  desire,  but  imposing  a  very  powerful  restric- 
tion in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  blood.  We  see  here  that  from 
the  times  of  the  deluge,  the  blood  was  constituted  a  most  sacred 
thing,  devoted  exclusively  to  God,  to  make  expiation  on  the 
altar  of  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  men.  In  Lev.  17:  11 — 14,  this 
is  set  forth  with  more  extension,  in  this  form:  "For  the  life 
of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood;  and  I  have  given  it  to  you  upon 
the  altar  to  make  atonement  for  your  souls;  for  it  is  the  blood 
that  maketh  atonement,  by  reason  of  the  life."  When  the 
blood  of  "the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world"  had  been  shed,  this  prohibition  ceased  naturally,  together 
with,  the  reason  for  it.  The  apostles,  nevertheless,  as  a  con- 
cession to  the  scruples  of  the  Jewish  Christians,  ordained  its 
continuance  (Acts  15:1 — 29);  a  concession  which  likewise  of 
itself  fell  into  disuse  with  the  cessation  of  the  occasion  for  it — 


114  GENESIS 

the  disappearance  of  Judaic  Christianity  (Acts  15:  21;  Rom. 
14:  13);  according  to  the  express  testimony  of  the  great  Augus- 
tine, in  the  5th  century.  Aug.  contra  Faust,  lib.  32,  chap.  13. 
See  Bingham's  Ecclesiastical  Antiquities,  Book  XVII.  Ch.  V. 
Sec.  15;  and  the  Note  of  Bishop  Amat  on  Gen.  9:  4. 

Passing  at  once  from  the  blood  of  animals  to  that  of  man, 
God  declared  that  he  would  himself  demand,  both  of  man  and 
beast,  a  strict  account  of  human  blood  violently  shed.  See  Ex. 
21:  14,  28  and  Deut.  21:  1—9. 

The  death  penalty  has  been  atrociously  abused  in  almost  all 
the  countries  of  the  world,  especially  in  past  times;  but  this 
does  not  justify  its  abolition  in  cases  of  premeditated  homicide; 
and  neglect  or  unwillingness  to  apply  to  the  criminal  the  pain 
of  death,  ordained  by  God  himself,  the  author  of  life,  always 
tends  to  the  enormous  increase  of  crime,  and  gives  loose  rein 
to  private  and  personal  vengeance.  The  lauded  "inviolability 
of  human  life,"  when  well  understood,  means  to  say  that  the 
life  of  a  human  being  is  a  thing  so  sacred,  that  he  who  takes 
It  without  just  cause,  must  pay  for  it  with  his  own,  in  amends 
to  outraged  justice,  both  human  and  divine.  See  also  Num. 
35:  33. 

9:     8 — 17.       THE   EVERLASTING    COVENANT^,    MADE    WITH    ALL    MEN    AND 

ALL  animals:  and  the  sign  of  it.     (2347  b.  c.) 

8  And  God  spake  unto  Noah,  and  to  his  sons  with  him,  saying, 

9  And  I,  behold,  I  establish  my  covenant  with  you,  and  with  your 
seed  after  you ; 

10  and  with  every  living  creature*  that  is  with  you,  the  birds, 
the  cattle,  and  every  beast  of  the  earth  with  you ;  of  all  that  go  out 
of  the  ark,  even  every  beast  of  the  earth. 

11  And  I  will  establish  my  covenant  with  you ;  neither  shall  all 
flesh  bo  cut  off  any  more  by  the  waters  of  the  flood;  neither  shall 
there  any  more  be  a  flood  to  destroy  the  earth. 

12  And  God  said,  This  is  the  token  of  the  covenant  which  I  make 
between  me  and  you  and  every  living  creature  that  is  with  you,  for 
perpetual  generations : 

13  I  do  set  my  bow  in  the  cloud,  and  it  shall  be  for  a  token  of  a 
covenant  between  me  and  the  earth. 

14  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  I  bring  a  cloud  over  the  earth, 
that  the  bow  shall  be  seen  in  the  cloud, 

15  and  I  will  remember  my  covenant,  which  is  between  me  and 
you  and  every  living  creature*  of  all  flesh ;  and  the  waters  shall  no 
more  become  a  flood  to  destroy  all  flesh. 

10  And  the  bow  shall  be  in  the  cloud ;  and  I  will  look  upon  it, 
that  I  may  remember  the  everlasting  covenant  between  God  and  every 
living  creature  of  all  flesh  that  is  upon  the  earth. 

17  And  God  said  unto  Noali,  This  is  the  token  of  the  covenant 
which  I  have  established  between  me  and  all  flesh  that  is  upon  the 
earth. 

[*Heh.  living  soul.] 


CHAPTER  9:  8—17  115 

A  catastrophe  so  great  as  the  deluge  of  Noah  would  neces- 
sarily have  the  effect  of  shaking  violently  the  confidence  of 
men  in  the  established  order  of  nature,  or  rather  of  destroying 
it;  and  thus  it  would  promote  indolence  and  idleness  in  the  in- 
fant society,  filling  it,  likewise,  with  doubt,  apprehension  and 
terror.  This  was  a  sufBcient  reason  why  God  should  celebrate 
with  them  a  special  covenant — an  everlasting  covenant  ivith  men 
and  beasts — that  he  would  never  more  destroy  all  flesh  by  the 
waters  of  a  flood.  To  confound  this  with  the  former  covenant — 
the  covenant  of  redemption — which  God  established  with  Noah 
120  years  before,  and  with  Abraham  subsequently,  would  mani- 
fest great  ignorance  of  the  affairs  of  divine  redemption;  the 
occasion,  the  subjects,  and  the  matter  of  the  two  being  entirely 
different. 

God  constituted  the  rainbow  a  sign  of  this  covenant,  probably 
making  it  to  appear  in  a  cloud  on  the  afternoon  of  that  notable 
day;  on  the  supposition  that  all  this  followed  the  sacrifice 
which  Noah  offered,  and  the  giving  of  the  divine  promise  re- 
lated in  the  preceding  chapter.  Chapter  9  ought  to  have 
commenced  with  vr.  20  of  chapter  8,  and  have  ended  with  the 
17th  verse  of  this,  as  it  all  treats  of  the  same  matter.  The  reader 
will  understand  that  the  division  of  chapters  and  verses  forms 
no  part  of  the  inspired  text,  but  was  adopted  in  modern'  times 
to  facilitate  the  citation  of  the  different  parts  of  the  Bible.  The 
rainbow,  of  course,  was  well  known  before  this;  but  thencefor- 
ward God  made  it  a  beautiful  and  interesting  sign  (which  never 
loses  its  charm  for  men)  of  this  transaction  and  covenant.  As 
to  what  is  said  of  God's  looking  upon  it,  in  order  to  remember 
the  covenant  he  had  made,  that  is  a  mere  accommodation  to  the 
manner  of  speech  of  an  infantile  people,  and  is  a  strong  proof 
of  the  extreme  age  of  this  account,  which  Moses,  perhaps  found 
preserved  In  writing,  or  by  verbal  tradition,  and  adapted  it 
to  this  place  in  his  history.  In  recent  years  there  have  been 
unearthed,  among  the  ruins  of  Babylon  and  Assyria,  more  than 
one  story  of  the  creation,  the  deluge,  etc.,  written  on  tablets 
or  cylinders  of  baked  clay,  which  bear  a  notable  resemblance 
to  this,  and  to  other  early  histories  of  the  book  of  Genesis; 
which  gives  the  appearance  of  plausibility  to  the  supposition  that 
Moses  also  found  in  his  day  written  documents  or  verbal  tra- 
ditions of  a  trustworthy  character,  on  the  deluge,  on  the  crea- 
tion, and  on  the  temptation  and  fall  of  man;  all  of  which  is 
found  preserved,  in  Babylonian  form,  in  the  collections  of 
tablets  and  cylinders  of  baked  clay,  that  have  been  made  in 
late  years. 


116  GENESIS 

On  the  use  and  signification  of  the  expression  "living  soul," 
translated  "living  creature"  in  vrs.  10  and  15,  consult  Islote  4, 
page   15. 

9:  18,    19.      THE   THREE    SONS    OF    NOAH,    PROGENITORS    OF   THE    WHOLE 
HUMAN    RACE.        (2347    B.    C.) 

18  And  the  sons  of  Noah,  that  went  forth  from  the  ark,  were  Shem, 
and  Ham,  and  Japheth  :  and  Ham  is  the  father  of  Canaan. 

19  These  three  were  the  sons  of  Noah :  and  of  these  was  the 
whole  earth  overspread. 

This  clear  and  emphatic  declaration  that  all  the  earth  was 
peopled  by  the  three  sons  of  Noah — a  declaration  repeated  in 
ch.  10:  32,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  narrative  of  the  distribution 
of  the  descendants  of  the  three,  after  the  deluge — is  a  peremp- 
tory affirmation  that  there  was  on  earth  no  other  human  race, 
nor  any  remains  of  the  Adamic  race  which  had  escaped  the 
waters  of  the  deluge,  to  take  part  in  peopling  the  unoccupied 
earth,  and  in  producing  the  different  races  which  now  occupy 
it.  "(God)  hath  made  of  one  blood  (or  race)  all  the  nations 
of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  having  determined 
their  times  appointed  and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation."  Paul, 
In  Acts  17:  26. 

9:  20 — 27.     the  shameful  sin  of  noah.     ham,  the  father  of 

THE   CANAANITES.      BLESSINGS   UPON    SHEM   AND   JAPHETH.      A   MOST 

NOTABLE  PROPHECY.      (Of  uncertain   date.) 

20  And  Noah  began  to  be  a  husbandman,  and  planted  a  vineyard : 

21  and  he  drank  of  the  wine,  and  was  drunken  ;  and  he  was  un- 
covered within  his  tenl. 

22  And  Ham,  the  father  of  Canaan,  saw  the  nakedness  of  his 
father,  and  told  his  two  brethren  without. 

2.S  And  Shem  and  Japheth  took  a  garment,  and  laid  it  upon  both 
their  shoulders,  and  went  backward,  and  covered  the  nakedness  of  their 
father :  and  their  faces  were  backward,  and  they  saw  not  their 
father's  nakedness. 

24  And  Noah  awoke  from  his  wine,  and  knew  what  his  youngest 
son  had  done  unto  him, 

25  And  he  said 

Cursed  be   Canaan ; 

A  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren. 

26  And  he  said. 

Blessed  be  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Shem ; 
And  let  Canaan  be  his  servant. 

27  God  enlarge  Japheth, 

And  let  him  dwell   in  tents  of  Shem ; 
And  let  Canaan  be  his  servant. 

The  shameful  fall  of  the  venerable  patriarch  Noah  is  greatly 
to  be  deplored.  After  he  had  passed  the  six-hundredth  year  of 
his  life,  had  escaped  the  dangers  of  the  deluge  and  been  con- 


CHAPTER  9:  20—27  117 

stituted  the  new  head  of  the  human  family,  and  the  depository 
of  the  promises  of  human  redemption,  he,  who  had  so  long 
"walked  with  God,"  planted  a  vineyard,  and  drank  of  the  wine, 
and  became  drunken,  and  lay  uncovered  within  his  tent.  It 
is  useless  to  attempt  to  palliate  his  sin  with  vain  and  empty 
excuses.  God  has  not  caused  this  history  to  be  written  in 
his  word  in  order  that  we  may  seek  imaginary  excuses  and 
apologies  for  Noah,  but  that  we  may  be  admonished  and  warned 
by  his  example.  No  experience  of  the  mercies  of  God  in  the 
past  can  free  us  from  exposure  to  other  and  sorer  temptations  in 
the  future.  Every  period  of  life  has  its  peculiar  trials;  and 
even  "the  hoary  head,"  found  long  time  "in  the  way  of  right- 
eousness" (Prov.  16:  31),  may  dishonor  itself  with  the  sin 
and  dire  disgrace  of  drunkenness!  Very  insidious  is  the  vice 
of  strong  drink.  It  is  probable  that  Noah  did  not  fall  sud- 
denly, but  that  little  by  little  he  went  on  increasing  the  quan- 
tity and  frequency  of  his  cups,  until  that  happened  which  is 
related.  In  old  age,  the  season  in  which  the  vigor  and  en- 
thusiasm of  youth  and  of  mature  life  are  dying  out,  those  who 
are  accustomed  to  the  use  of  strong  drink  are  very  prone  to 
supply  with  the  artificial  stimulus  the  lack  of  what  is  natural. 
It  is  a  good  thing  to  avoid  falling  into  temptation,  whether  in 
youth,  or  in  maturity,  or  in  old  age,  by  total  abstinence  from 
intoxicating  liquors.  "Wine  is  a  mocker,  strong  drink  is  rag- 
ing; and  he  that  is  deceived  thereby  is  not  wise."  Prov.  20:  1. 
Well  has  the  Scripture  said  to  us:  "Let  him  that  thinketh  he 
standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall."  1  Cor.  10:  12.  Surely  Noah 
had  good  cause  to  believe  that  he  was  standing  firm;  and  yet 
he  fell! 

In  this  narrative  Ham  is  not  once  mentioned  without  the  ad- 
dition of  the  words  "the  father  of  Canaan";  a  clear  indication  that 
the  curse  which  for  some  unexplained  reason  fell,  not  on  him 
but  on  his  son  Canaan,  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the 
Africans  (whom  alone  some  persons  would  see  in  this  prophecy), 
but  with  an  Asiatic  race — the  Canaanites,  whose  land  was  taken 
from  them  and  given  to  the  descendants  of  Abraham;  and 
the  remnants  of  them,  those  who  remained  in  the  country, 
were  reduced  to  a  form  of  slavery.  The  reason  for  this  we  can- 
not explain,  nor  is  it  necessary  that  we  should.  It  pleased  God 
"who  visits  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  their  children,"  to 
punish  this  sin  of  the  father  in  the  descendants  of  one  of  his 
sons;  and  as  the  Infinite  Reason  cannot  act  arbitrarily,  we 
content  ourselves  with  this.  God  has  just  cause  for  all  that  he 
does,  or  fails  to  do. 


118  GENESIS 

"Ham,  the  father  of  Canaan,  saw  the  nakedness  of  his  father"; 
and  instead  of  covering  him,  he  went  to  tell  it  to  his  brothers 
who  were  outside  the  tent;  and  they,  walking  backward,  with 
a  garment  spread  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  two,  covered  him, 
without  looking  upon  the  nakedness  of  their  father.  The  be- 
havior of  Ham  on  this  occasion  was  surely  not  a  casual  thing, 
but  marks  a  distinctive  trait  in  his  profane  and  sensual  char- 
acter— the  only  one  that  is  related  of  him.  We  know  from  vr. 
24  that  Ham  was  the  youngest  son  of  Noah,  as  Shem  was  the 
oldest.     Ch.  10:  21. 

"On  waking  from  his  wine,"  Noah  knew  what  his  younger 
son  had  done  to  him,  and  three  several  times  he  pronounced 
sentence  of  servitude  upon  Canaan,  the  son  of  Ham.  For  what 
cause  this  particular  son  was  to  bear  the  malediction,  due  to 
the  act  of  his  father,  we  are  not  able  to  conjecture;  we  only 
know  that  in  point  of  fact  it  was  fulfilled  in  the  sentence  of 
servitude  formally  pronounced  by  Joshua  upon  the  Gibeonites, 
and  others  of  the  descendants  of  Canaan,  who  by  craft  and 
subtility  saved  themselves  from  extermination  (Josh.  9:  23 — 27); 
a  sentence  imposed  likewise  at  a  later  date,  by  David  and 
Solomon,  upon  the  remnant  of  the  Canaanites  found  in  Israel  in 
their  day.  1  Kings  9:  20,  21.  In  the  following  chapter,  the 
sacred  writer  takes  especial  pains  to  tell  us  who  were  the 
sons  of  Canaan,  and  what  were  the  boundaries  of  their  terri- 
tory; as  if  to  give  us  to  understand  unequivocally  that  the 
sons  of  Canaan  were  all  Asiatics,  and  not  one  of  them  an 
African.  It  is  therefore  an  inexcusable  error  and  an  unjus- 
tifiable and  hurtful  misinterpretation  of  prophecy  to  infer  (as 
some  have  done)  from  the  sin  of  Ham  and  the  curse  pronounced 
upon  Canaan,  that  from  ancient  times  God  has  consigned  the 
African  (as  the  race  of  Ham)  to  perpetual  servitude.  Directly 
opposite  to  this  is  the  truth.  The  race  of  Ham,  in  ancient  times, 
was  the  most  active,  enterprising,  intelligent,  rich  and  power- 
ful of  the  races  of  the  world.  It  is  worth  while  here  to  note 
that  the  Babylonians  and  the  Egyptians,  the  most  powerful 
of  the  nations  of  antiquity,  and  the  Tyrians,  the  richest,  and 
also  the  most  intrepid  of  navigators,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
Carthage,  in  North  Africa,  the  powerful  enemy  and  rival  of 
Rome,  were  all  of  the  race  of  Ham;  although  it  is  true  that 
the  races  and  tribes  of  Central  and  South  Africa  have  descended 
likewise  from  some  degenerate  branches  of  the  same  family. 
But  these  had  nothing  to  do  with  Canaan,  upon  whom,  or  rather 
upon  whose  descendants,  the  said  malediction  fell. 

It   is   worth   noting,   as   we   pass,   that   the   characters   of  the 


CHAPTER  9:  20—27  119 

fathers  seem  to  have  been  perpetuated  in  their  descendants. 
However  great  in  other  times  were  the  nations  descended  from 
Ham,  they  have  in  general  been  profane  and  sensual  like  him- 
self; while  the  descendants  of  Shem  and  Japheth  have  been 
distinguished  by  the  more  serious  traits  which  ennoble  and 
preserve  nations;  races  marked  by  the  reverent  modesty  of  their 
fathers. 

The  occasion  of  this  malediction  was  likewise  that  of  bless- 
ing upon  Shem  and  Japheth.  The  form  of  the  words  is  poetic, 
as  is  the  song  of  Lamech  (ch.  4:  23),  and  should  be  interpreted 
as  such.  It  is  also  a  prophecy,  in  which  is  sketched  in  bold 
outlines  the  general  history  and  character  of  these  three  great 
families  of  men.  The  blessing  of  Shem  is  well  worthy  of  fixing 
our  attention.  Noah,  instead  of  blessing  Shem,  blesses  Jehovah 
rather,  as  "the  God  of  Shem";  adding,  "and  Canaan  shall  be  his 
servant."  In  Hebrew  the  word  signifies  either  "servant  to  him" 
or  "servant  to  them."  But  as  Shem  only  is  mentioned,  "of 
them"  is  hardly  admissible,  unless  we  understand  it  of  Shem 
and  his  God;  according  to  the  words  of  Joshua  to  the  Glbeonites: 
"Now  therefore,  ye  are  cursed,  and  there  shall  never  fail  to  be 
of  you  bondmen,  both  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water 
for  the  house  of  my  God"  (Josh.  9:  23);  and  still  later,  after 
the  Babylonish  Captivity,  they  were  called  "Nethinim":=Temple- 
servants,  given  to  the  Levites  to  perform  the  menial  work  of 
the  Temple,  in  their  stead.  Ezra  2:  43;  8:  20.  Canaan  there- 
fore was  conquered  by  Israel,  and  the  remnants  of  its  seven 
nations  were  put  to  "task  work"  (Judg.  1:  28,  30,  33),  and  were 
made  servants  of  the  Congregation,  and  perpetual  servants  of  the 
Tabernacle  and  the  Temple. 

The  Semitic  race  has  been  par  excellence  the  religious  race; 
and  as  Ham  is  repeatedly  called  "the  father  of  Canaan,"  so 
in  ch.  10:  21,  Shem  is  called  "the  father  of  Eber,"  or  of  the 
Hebrews;  which  was  his  principal  badge  of  glory  and  distinc- 
tion; in  whose  tents,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  God  literally  came 
to  dwell  ("Immanuel,  God  with  us"  Matt.  1:  23),  if  we  under- 
stand that  in  vr.  27,  God  is  the  subject  of  both  propositions; 
or  if  we  change  the  subject,  it  will  signify  that  Japheth  would 
come  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem;  not  however  to  rob  them, 
but  to  profit  by  his  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  as  many  of 
the  ancient  prophecies  declare  (Isa.  2:  3;  60:  2,  3;  Zech.  8:  23); 
and  Jesus  lays  emphasis  upon  the  declaration  that  "salvation  is 
of  the  Jeivs."  John  4:  22.  In  this  sense,  the  fulfilment  has 
been  no  less  notable  than  the  prophecy;  for  in  fact,  with  the 
Christianization  of  the  European  nations,  all  of  them  descended 


120  GENESIS 

from  Japheth,  he  has  come  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem  and 
to  partake  of  his  blessings;  while  Israel  has  separated  himself 
from  those  blessings  through  his  unbelief.  Rom.  11:  20.  It  was 
blessing  enough  for  Shem  that  Jehovah  was  his  God,  and  that 
"in  Abraham  and  in  his  seed  all  the  families  of  the  earth  were 
to  be  blessed."     Gen.  12:  3;    28:  14. 

The  blessing  of  Japheth  was:  "God  shall  enlarge  Japheth  and 
he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his 
servant."  In  point  of  fact,  Japheth  (the  word  signifies  enlarge- 
ment) has  been  enlarged  more  than  any  other  of  the  three. 
The  European  nations,  with  all  their  great  colonies,  now  na- 
tions, in  both  Americas,  in  Australia,  in  South  Africa  and  in 
the  islands  of  the  sea,  are  all  of  his  lineage;  and  all  of  them, 
without  a  single  exception,  profess  the  religion  of  the  God  of 
Shem.  In  the  following  chapter  we  shall  see,  likewise,  that 
the  Hindoos,  the  Chinese,  the  Japanese,  the  Tartars  also,  and 
some  of  the  nations  of  Western  Asia,  as  the  Armenians  and 
the  Medes,  are  probably  of  the  family  of  Japheth. 

It  is  a  remarkable  thing  that  the  Hebrew  leaves  indeterminate 
whether  it  was  God  who  should  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem, 
or  Japheth;  and  in  such  cases,  when  either  of  the  two  interpre- 
tations gives  a  perfectly  legitimate  and  right  sense,  and  is  in 
full  accord  with  the  analogy  of  Scripture,  it  is  better  to  accept 
'both  together,  rather  than  either  of  the  two  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  other;  seeing  that  the  ambiguity  must  have  been  as  patent 
to  the  writer  as  to  us.  Here  then  we  have  an  extremely  old 
prophecy,  whose  wonderful  fulfilment  is  worthy  to  call  the 
attention  of  all,  and  may  well  serve  to  convince  unbelievers  on 
the  one  hand,  if  they  are  thinking  men,  and  on  the  other  to 
awaken  the  gratitude  and  praises  of  believing  men. 

Canaan  always  comes  to  occupy  the  place  of  servant  to  the 
rest.  As  Ham  was  emphatically  excluded  from  the  blessings, 
it  may  be  well  understood  that  the  Babylonians,  the  Egyptians, 
the  Tyrians,  etc.,  although  great  in  their  day,  were  purely 
worldly  peoples;  and  besides  this,  they  were  (like  the  Canaan- 
ites)  of  the  most  impure  and  shameful  habits;  and  their  glory 
and  riches  and  science  and  power  have  perished  with  them; 
while  their  miserable  and  degraded  remnants,  unknown  now  in 
Babylon  and  Tyre,  are  in  Egypt  reduced  to  the  level  of  serfs; 
and  their  continent  (that  which  is  theirs  par  excellence — Africa), 
has  been  for  ages  a  slave  market  for  the  more  advanced  and 
powerful  nations; — the  foreign  African  slave  trade,  however,  be- 
ing happily  abolished  in  our  day. 

It  will  be  asked,  perhaps,  why  God  was  so  hard  on  the  sin 


CHAPTER  9:  28,  29  121 

of  Ham,  without  even  condemning  tlie  sin  of  Noah,  or  much 
less  punishing  him  on  account  of  it.  I  reply,  1st,  because  God 
well  knows  that  believing  men,  who  search  his  word,  do  not  need 
that  a  particular  act  should.be  condemned  and  censured  in  or- 
der to  understand  that  it  is  sinful  and  displeasing  to  him; 
and  2nd,  as  to  punishment,  because  he  does  not  deal  with  his 
believing  people  as  a  King,  who  dispenses  even-handed  justice 
to  all  alike  (his  season  for  kingly  judgment  and  justice  has 
not  yet  come,  John  12:47);  but  as  a  loving  and  pardoning 
Father,  who  does  not  punish,  but  only  chastens  his  blood-bought 
children  for  their  correction.  If  the  reader  would  know  and 
enjoy  this  priceless  distinction,  he  must  betake  himself,  with 
penitence  and  faith,  to  the  shelter  of  the  Cross.  See  Note 
26,  on  the  sins  of  God's  ancient  saints. 

9:  28,  29.    the  death  of  noah.     (2006  B.  C.) 

28  And  Noah  lived  after  the  flood  three  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

29  And  all  the  days  of  Noah  were  nine  hundred  and  fifty  years ; 
and  he  died. 

But  the  longest  and  most  honored  life  must  necessarily  come 
to  an  end;  unless  "the  day  of  redemption"  should  sooner  dawn. 
Eph.  4:  30;  John  21:  23.  Noah  lived  350  years  after  the  del- 
uge, and  died,  according  to  the  common  chronology,  two  years 
before  Abraham  was  born;  being  the  contemporary  of  Terah,  the 
father  of  Abraham,  for  128  years;  and  the  sum  total  of  his  days 
was  950  years. 

Adam,  930;  Jared,  962;  Methuselah,  969;  Noah,  950. 

CHAPTER  X. 

VE.    1.      THE    SONS    AND    DESCENDANTS    OF    NOAH,    AND    THEIB   DISSEMI- 
NATION   THEOUGHOUT    THE    WORLD. 

1  Now  these  are  the  generations  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  namely,  of 
Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth :  and  unto  them  were  sons  born  after  the 
flood. 

As  by  the  particular  providence  of  God,  our  first  parents  had 
no  children  until  after  the  trial  which  terminated  so  disastrously 
for  them  and  for  their  posterity,  so  likewise  by  his  providence, 
the  sons  of  Noah,  being  all  married,  had  no  children  until  after 
they  came  forth  out  of  the  ark.  Ch.  10:  1.  Shem,  the  oldest 
of  the  three,  had  his  son  Arphaxad,  in  the  line  of  the  promise, 
"two  years  after  the  deluge."   Ch.  11:  10. 


122  GENESIS 

10:  2 — 5.      THE   LINEAGE    OF    JAPHETH. 

2  The  sons  of  Japheth :  Gomer,  and  Magog,  and  Madai,  and  Javan, 
and  Tubal,   and   Meshech,   and  Tiras. 

3  And  the  sons  of  Gomer  :  Ashkenaz,  and  Riphath,  and  Togarmah. 

4  And  the  sons  of  Javan :  Elishah,  and  Tarshish,  Kittim,  and 
Dodanim. 

5  Of  these  were  the  isles*  of  the  nations  dividedt  in  their  lands, 
every  one  after  his  tongue,  after  their  families,  in  their  nations. 

*Orj  coast  lands.  [fJ-?.  S.   V.,  peopled.] 

Several  of  these  names  are  plurals,  and  are  the  names  of 
nations  and  countries;  and,  according  to  Hebrew  usage,  it  may 
be  understood  that  only  some  of  them  are  the  names  of  individual 
sons  of  Japheth,  or  that  none  of  them  are;  giving  us  to  under- 
stand that,  in  a  broad  sense,  the  following  peoples  descended 
from  him.  Notwithstanding  this,  "the  sons  of  Gomer"  and  "the 
sons  of  Javan,"  although  in  Hebrew  they  are  the  names  of  nations, 
seem  to  indicate  that  those  so  designated  were  individual  sons  of 
Japheth,  who  left  their  names  to  their  respective  peoples  and  races. 

''Gomer"  is  mentioned  once  in  Ezek.  38:  6,  in  connection  with 
"the  house  of  Togarmah"  (his  son,  according  to  vr.  3),  "with 
all  their  hordes,"  as  warlike  peoples,  "from  the  distant  parts 
of  the  north;"  it  being  understood  that  for  Ezekiel  and  his  con- 
temporaries, the  Black  or  Euxine  Sea  was  very  far  to  the  north. 
Of  Riphath  we  know  nothing  with  certainty.  The  Armenians  and 
Georgians  claim  that  they  are  of  "the  house  of  Togarmah." 
In  modern  Jewish  speech,  Germany  bears  the  name  of  Ashkenaz; 
and  there  is  not  a  little  resemblance  between  this  name  and 
Scandinavia,  which  embraces  the  territory  of  Sweden,  Norway 
and  Denmark.  It  is  probable  that  the  descendants  of  Gomer 
were  disseminated  towards  the  N.  W.,  as  far  as  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  From  them  it  is  supposed  that  the  Celtic  races  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  West  of  Europe  descended. 

Magog,  in  Ezek.  38:  2,  is  represented  as  "the  land  of  Gog, 
the  prince  of  Rosh  (=  Russia),  Meshech  (=iMoscovia?)  and  Tu- 
bal;" Meshech  and  Tubal  being  two  others  of  the  sons  of  Japheth. 
It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  we  should  associate  these  three, 
as  peopling  the  great  Russia;  and  before  that,  in  the  days  of 
Ezekiel,  the  neighboring  parts  of  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas. 

Madai  is  the  same  as  the  Medes,  or  Media,  situated  to  the 
north  of  Elam,  the  ancient  Persia,  and  on  the  south  of  the  Cas- 
pian Sea. 

Javan  is  in  Hebrew  the  ordinary  name  of  Greece  (although 
without  the  clear  demarcations  which  the  name  now  carries 
with  it),  whose  descendants  were  Elishah  (i=probably  the 
Greeks  strictly  speaking);    TarsTiisTi— Tartessus,   in   Spain;   Kit- 


CHAPTER  10:  6—14  123 

tint,  (="Coast-dwellers"),  embracing  Cyprus  and  the  other  Greek 
Islands,  and  sometimes  its  use  extends  as  far  as  Italy  (Num. 
24:  24;  Dan.  11:  30);  and  Do(Zanim=;probably  Rhodanim,  or  the 
island  of  Rhodes;  but  others  understand  it  as=Dardani,  the 
inhabitants  of  Troy  or  Troas;  of  whom  the  Romans  claimed  to 
te  descendants. 

Tiras,  the  seventh  "son"  of  Japheth.^probably  the  dreaded 
Thracians  of  ancient  times,  to  the  west  of  the  Black  Sea. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  that  neither  Moses 
nor  Ezekiel  had  maps,  like  ourselves,  to  fix  the  exact  boundaries 
of  the  nations,  nor  did  the  nations  have  the  exact  boundaries 
they  have  now;  but  the  list  given  embraces  the  vast  re- 
gions to  the  north  of  Media  and  Armenia  and  Central  Asia,  and 
the  northern  part  of  Asia  Minor,  and  all  the  lands  to  the  north 
of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  From  Media  and  Central  Asia  (Turk- 
estan) it  is  probable  that  the  race  of  Japheth  passed  to  the 
east  and  south  of  Asia,  and  peopled  the  great  China  and  In- 
dia. 

"Of  these  (the  sons  of  Japheth),  the  coasts  of  the  nations 
were  peopled"  (Heb.  divided).  In  the  beginnings  of  colonization, 
men  established  themselves  first  near  the  sea,  and  gradually,  with 
the  increase  of  population,  they  moved  inland,  following  first  the 
course  of  navigable  rivers.  For  this  reason  the  Hebrew  does 
not  distinguish  between  "coasts"  and  "islands."  But  the  "is- 
lands of  the  nations"  would  here  be  manifestly  improper.  This 
is  said  of  the  sons  of  Japheth  only,  and  seemingly  gives  us  to 
understand  that  the  Japhethites  established  themselves  along  the 
northern  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  the  coasts  of  the 
Black  Sea,  and  other  maritime  lands; — a  sure  indication  of 
that  spirit  of  enterprise  and  of  sea-faring  life  which  has  always 
distinguished  the  race  of  Japheth.  Add  to  these  the  two  Ameri- 
cas, Australia,  South  Africa,  etc.,  etc.,  and  we  exclaim:  Truly 
"God  has  enlarged  Japheth!"  "Without  the  Spirit  of  prophecy, 
how  could  Noah  have  known  all  this?  And  indeed  how  could 
any  writer  of  the  Old  Testament,  all  of  whom  died  before  any 
part  of  the  race  of  Japheth  rose  to  distinction? 

10:  6 — 14.      THE  LINEAGE  OF  HAM. 

6  And  the  sons  of  Ham  :  Cush,  and  Mizraim,  and  Put,  and  Canaan. 

7  And  the  sons  of  Cush :  Seba,  and  Havilah,  and  Sabtah,  and 
Raamah,  and  Sabteca ;  and  the  sons  of  Raamah :  Sheba,  and  Dedan. 

8  And  Cush  begat  Nimrod  :  he  began  to  be  a  mighty  one  in  the 
earth. 

9  He  was  a  mighty  hunter  before  .Tehovah  :  wherefore  it  is  said, 
Like  Nimrod  a  mighty  hunter  before  Jehovah. 


124  GENESIS 

10  And  the  beginning  of  his  kingdom  was  Babel,  and  Erech,  and 
Accad,  and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar. 

11  Out  of  that  laud  he  went  forth  into  Assyria,*  and  builded 
Nineveh,  and  Rehoboth-Ir,  and  Calah. 

12  and  Resen  between  Nineveh  and  Calah  (the  same  is  the  great 
city). 

13  And  Mizraim  begat  Ludim  and  Anamim,  and  Lehabim,  and 
Naphtuhim, 

14  and  Pathrusim,  and  Casluhim  (whence  went  forth  the  Philis- 
tines), and  Caphtorim. 

*0r,  went  forth  Asshur. 

The  four  sons  of  Ham,  the  immediate  branches  of  his  stock, 
were  Cush,  Mizraim,  Put,  and  Canaan. 

The  sons  of  Cush  were  Seba,  Havilah,  Sabtah,  Raamah  and 
Sabteca,  together  with  the  two  sons  of  Raamah,  Sheba  and  De- 
dan.  Part  of  them  went  to  Africa,  seemingly  by  the  Strait  of 
Babel-mandeb,  and  gave  name  to  Ethiopia,  or  Cush,  in  Africa; 
Seba  (or  his  descendants),  according  to  our  best  maps,  es- 
tablished himself  to  the  south  of  Egypt,  in  what  is  now  Nubia 
or  Abyssinia.  With  less  certainty  Sabtah,  Havilah  and  Sabteca 
are  located  by  Bible  geographers  on  the  African  coast  of  the 
Red  Sea  and  the  Strait  of  Babel-mandeb,  as  far  south  as  the 
Indian  Ocean.  Raamah,  with  his  two  sons,  Sheba  and  Dedan, 
is  located  in  the  eastern  part  of  Arabia,  as  far  as  the  Persian 
Gulf  and  beyond  that  also,  along  its  western  coast.  It  is  im- 
possible to  fix  these  limits  with  any  certainty;  because  the 
Cushites  were  scattered  over  the  immense  area  of  the  peninsula 
of  Arabia,  including  that  of  Mount  Sinai,  where  Moses  found  his 
Cushite  (or  Ethiopian)  wife.  Num.  12:  1.  Some  would  locate 
Sheba,  the  Cushite,  in  Arabia  Felix,  not  far  from  the  Red  Sea, 
and  maintain  that  that  was  the  famous,  rich  and  powerful 
kingdom  of  Sheba,  whose  queen  visited  Solomon.  But  others, 
perhaps  with  more  reason,  concede  this  honor  to  Sheba,  son  of 
Jocktan,  of  the  race  of  Shem.  Vr.  28.  What  makes  the  sub- 
ject the  more  difficult  is  that  the  Abyssinians  (who  surely  belong 
to  the  ancient  Ethiopia),  since  before  their  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity (such  as  it  is),  and  while  they  yet  professed  Judaism, 
have  sustained  by  invariable  tradition  until  today,  that  the 
"Queen  of  Sheba,"  was  of  their  race,  and  was  converted  to 
Judaism  by  King  Solomon,  who  made  her  one  of  his  many  wives, 
and  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  called  Meniiek,  whom  she  carried 
back  with  her  on  her  return,  and,  having  converted  her  kingdom 
to  Judaism,  left  him  as  her  successor; — a  line,  which,  accord- 
ing to  them,  has  not  changed  till  the  present  day.  It  is  un- 
deniable that  the  religion  of  the  Abyssinians  is  a  grotesque  mix- 
ture of   Judaism   and  Christianity.     According  to   them,   there- 


CHAPTER  10:  6—14  125 

fore,  the  famous  queen  was  a  Cushite  and  an  African.  It  Is 
almost  certain  that  all  the  Cushites  passed  from  Arabia  to 
Africa  by  the  Strait  of  Babel-mandeb;  and  so  it  is  often  dif- 
ficult to  determine  whether  the  Cushites  who  are  spoken  of  in  a 
given  passage  are  Arabians  or  Ethiopians — reserving  this  name 
for  the  Cushite  Africans. 

Cush  likewise  was  the  father  of  Nimrod,  who  was  "the  first  to 
become  a  mighty  one  in  the  earth"; — which  is  the  real  mean- 
ing of  the  Hebrew  phrase  "began  to  be";  it  surely  does  not 
mean  to  say  that  he  began,  but  could  not  finish.  Comp.  Acts 
15:  14;  1  Pet.  4:  17.  He  was  the  first  of  those  ambitious  spirits 
who  founded  empires  for  themselves,  subduing  tribes  and  na- 
tions, in  order  to  make  himself  great.  The  fame  of  this  "hunter" 
of  men  lasted  a  long  while,  and  was  widely  extended,  and  he 
became  celebrated  in  verse  and  in  song;  although  he  is  not 
mentioned  again  in  the  Bible,  outside  of  the  circumstance  that 
the  prophet  Micah,  who  flourished  in  the  days  of  Isaiah,  speaks 
of  Assyria  "as  the  land  of  Nimrod"  (Mic.  5:  6);  which  is  con- 
sidered evidence  sufficient  to  determine  that  it  was  Nimrod, 
and  not  Asshur,  who  founded  the  city  of  Nineveh.  Eighteen 
miles  south  of  the  supposed  ruins  of  Nineveh,  are  also  found 
the  ruins  of  a  place  which  still  bears  the  name  of  "Nimroud." 
Davis'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  Article  Nineveh.  In  any  case, 
it  is  settled  by  the  testimony  of  Genesis  that  Nineveh  was  founded 
by  colonists  who  came  from  Babylon;  and  this  the  recently 
deciphered  monuments  of  Assyria  place  beyond  a  doubt.  But 
whoever  may  have  been  the  founder  of  Nineveh,  it  is  certain 
that  the  city  passed  over  to  the  dominion  of  the  sons  of  As- 
shur, as  it  was  the  capital  of  the  great  Assyrian  empire. 

"Nimrod  a  mighty  hunter  before  Jehovah"  passed  into  a  prov- 
erb, or  it  figures  here  as  a  line  of  some  heroic  song  of  those 
ancient  times;  and  the  citation  clearly  demonstrates  that  the 
name  "Jehovah,"  dovetailed  thus  into  a  proverb,  or  into  the 
verse  of  a  song,  was  familiarly  known  and  used  long  before  the 
days  of  Moses.  See  comments  on  Ex.  6:  3.  The  phrase  appears 
to  indicate  the  daring  and  impious  courage  with  which  this 
valiant  warrior  trod  down  all  laws  and  rights  both  human  and 
divine.  The  beginning  of  his  kingdom  was  Babylon,  on  the 
river  Euphrates,  with  other  cities  in  the  land  of  Shinar,  which 
Nimrod,  it  seems,  conquered,  they  having  been  founded  originally 
by  people  of  the  race  of  Japheth  (Geike,  Hours  icith  the  Bible. 
Vol.  1,  ch.  17);  and  he  left  the  impress  of  his  character  deeply 
stamped  on  this  city  of  Babylon,  whose  king,  "the  king  of 
Shinar,"  in  the  days  of  Abraham,  came  on  an  expedition  of  more 


126  GENESIS 

than  a  thousand  miles  to  rob  the  peoples  (ch.  14:  1);  and  whom 
Habakkuk  (ch.  1:  12—17),  a  little  before  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  represents  as  a  pitiless  fisher- 
man, proud  and  self-confident,  who  with  his  hook  and  his  cast- 
net  emptied  the  rivers  and  the  seas  of  fish.  Isaiah  had  elegantly- 
used  the  figure  of  a  hunter,  two  hundred  years  before,  to  repre- 
sent the  insatiable  rapacity  of  the  Assyrian  Sennacherib,  a 
worthy  predecessor  of  the  Babylonian  Nebuchadnezzar.  Isa.  10: 
13,  14. 

No  satisfactory  reason  can  be  given  why,  in  this  place  (vr.  10), 
and  in  ch.  11:  9  the  Hebrew  form  "Babel,"  should  be  preserved 
and  in  all  the  rest  of  the  Bible  the  same  word  and  name  should 
take  the  Greek  form  "Babylon."  The  inevitable  effect  of  this 
arbitrary  change  is  that  few  of  the  readers  of  the  Bible  know 
that  in  Hebrew  the  two  names  are  identical.  The  Greek  trans- 
lation of  the  LXX  has  Babylon  in  ch.  10:  10,  and  "Confusion" 
in  ch.  11:  9,  translating  the  Hebrew  word  "Babel."  Amat  and 
Scio,  following  the  Latin  Vulgate,  put  "Babylon"  in  ch.  10:  10 
and  "Babel"  in  ch.  11:  9.  The  Reina-Valera  Version  and  the 
English  Versions  use  "Babel"  in  both  cases,  and  "Babylon"  287 
times  in  the  rest  of  the  Bible.  As  the  Hebrew  is  always  the 
same,  the  Modern  Spanish  Version  places  "Babylon"  in  the  text 
and  "Babel"  in  the  margin;  in  order  that  the  reader  may  under- 
stand that  the  tower  of  Babylon  was  the  beginning  of  the  famous 
city  of  that  name. 

The  original  of  vr.  11  is  not  clear  and  the  sense  is  equivocal; 
some  sustaining  that  "out  of  that  land"  of  Shinar,  went  forth 
Nimrod  to  Assyria,  and  built  Nineveh;  while  others  maintain 
that  the  natural  and  proper  translation  {Asshur  and  Assyria 
being  one  and  the  same  thing  in  Hebrew)  is  that  Asshur  "went 
forth  and  builded  Nineveh";  giving  us  probably  to  understand 
that  Asshur  (of  the  race  of  Shem,  vr.  22),  or  his  descendants, 
who  bear  his  name,  being  pressed  by  Nimrod,  went  forth  out  of 
the  country  of  Shinar,  which  they  had  before  occupied,  and 
founded  Nineveh;  at  a  great  distance  to  the  north  or  N.  W.  of 
Babylon,  250  miles  in  a  straight  line,  and  on  the  river  Tigris; 
and  this  capital  was,  for  many  ages,  a  greater,  more  powerful 
and  more  important  city  than  Babylon.  It  is  to  be  observed 
that  although  Nimrod  (or,  if  you  prefer  it,  Asshur)  "builded 
Nineveh  and  Rehoboth-Ir,  Calah  and  Resen,"  we  are  not  told  that 
Nimrod  builded  Babylon,  nor  Erech,  Accad  or  Calneh.  It  is  prob- 
able that  he  "hunted"  them,  and  began  with  these  trophies  of 
his  "violent  dealing"  to  found  his  empire.  It  seems  that  Reho- 
both-Ir (=  Streets  of  the  city),  Calah  and  Resen  were  dependent 


CHAPTER  10:  6—14  127 

cities  of  Nineveh,  which  some  suppose  were  later  absorbed  into 
it,  to  form  the  "great  city"  of  which  the  text  speaks,  celebrated 
by  Diodorus  Siculus  as  a  city  of  fifty  or  sixty  miles  in  circuit; 
and  of  which  it  is  said  in  the  book  of  Jonah  that  "Nineveh 
was  an  exceeding  great  city  of  three  days'  journey  (in  circuit). 
Jonah  3:  3. 

[It  would  appear  from  Isa.  23:  13,  that  Asshur  (or  "the  Assyr- 
ian") founded  Babylonia,  or  "the  land  of  the  Chaldeans";  which 
seems  to  support  the  view  of  those  who  adopt  the  alternative 
rendering  of  vr.  11,  given  in  the  note,  "From  that  land  went  forth 
Asshur  and  builded  Nineveh";  as  though,  after  founding  Babylon, 
Asshur,  being  driven  out  by  "the  mighty  hunter"  Nimrod,  went  250 
miles  farther  to  the  north,  and  founded  Nineveh.  But  the 
passage  in  Isaiah  is  so  difficult  of  satisfactory  interpretation, 
that  it  cannot  with  any  great  confidence  be  cited  to  prove  it. 
— Tr.] 

Mizraim  (=Egypt),  another  son,  or  other  descendants  (because 
the  name  is  plural,  or  at  least  dual,  corresponding  to  the  two 
Egypts,  Upper  and  Lower)  of  Ham,  founder  of  the  great  kingdom 
of  that  name,  was  father  of  the  different  tribes  mentioned — 
Ludim,  Anamim,  Lehabim,  Naphtuhim,  Pathrusim,  Casluhim, 
Caphtorim  (plurals  all),  to  which  some  add  Philistim  (=;  Philis- 
tines) ;  and  all  of  them  were  located  in  Upper  and  Lower 
Egypt,  to  the  east  and  west  of  the  mouths  of  the  Nile,  along 
the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  from  Philistia  on  the  east, 
to  Lybia  and  Cyrene  on  the  west.  Others  understand  that 
"Caphtorim"  refers  to  the  Island  of  Caphtor  (=  Crete);  al- 
though it  is  possible  that  the  Caphtorim  passed  from  Egypt  to 
Crete.  In  Deut.  2:  23;  Jer.  27:  4;  Amos  9:7,  it  is  said  that  the 
Philistines  proceeded  from  Caphtor;  which  would  be  very  easy 
for  them  to  do,  if  the  Caphtorim  occupied  the  territory  of  the 
mouths  of  the  Nile  (as  is  shown  in  Map  1  of  the  Parallel  Bible, 
1890),  the  Philistines  touching  Egypt  on  the  N.  E.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  tribes  of  the  Casluhim,  to  the  N.  E.  of  Egypt  (in  what 
was  later  called  the  land  of  Goshen,  ch.  45:  10;  47:  27),  and 
the  Caphtorim,  in  the  delta  of  the  Nile,  mixed;  so  that  it  might 
well  be  said  that  the  Philistines  descended  from  either  of  the 
two.  The  declaration  of  Jer.  47:  4,  that  the  Philistines  pro- 
ceeded from  the  Island  of  Caphtor,  may  be,  therefore,  understood 
in  this  sense;  or,  as  "isle"  and  "coast"  are  the  same  thing  in 
Hebrew,  the  phrase  is  ambiguous;  and  it  may  be  that  those 
powerful  enemies  of  Israel  were  of  Egyptian  extraction,  pro- 
ceeding from  the  mixture  of  the  Caphtorim  and  Casluhim,  both 
of  them  coast  tribes  of  northern  Egypt, 


128  GENESIS 

Put  (or  Phut),  the  third  son  of  Ham,  is  probably  the  same  as 
Mauritania,  which  is  now  occupied  by  the  kingdoms  or  provinces 
of  Morocco,  Fez  and  Algeria,  on  the  N.  W.  of  Africa. 

10:  15 — 20.       CANAAN    AND    THE    CANAAIVITES. 

15  And  Canaan  begat  Sidon  his  first-born,  and  Heth, 

16  and  the  Jebusite,  aud  the  Amorite,   and  tho  Girgashite, 

17  and  the  Hivite,  and  the  Arkite,  and  the  Sinite, 

18  and  the  xlrvadite,  and  the  Zemarite,  aud  the  Hamathite  :  and 
afterward  were  the  families  of  the  Canaanite  spread  abroad. 

19  And  the  border  of  the  Canaanite  was  from  Sidon,  as  thou  goest 
toward  Gerar,  unto  Gaza  :  as  thou  goest  toward  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah and  Admah  and  Zeboim,  unto  Lasha. 

20  These  are  the  sons  of  Ham,  after  their  families,  after  their 
tongues,  in  their  lands,  in  their  nations. 

Sidon,  the  first-born  of  Canaan,  gave  name  to  all  the  land  of 
Phenicia.  Josh.  13:  6;  Jud.  IS:  7.  From  him  the  ancient  city  of 
Sidon  took  its  name  and  origin;  which  still  exists  as  a  city  of 
importance;  with  Tyre,  twenty  miles  to  the  south,  which  was  a 
"daughter  of  Sidon"  (Isa.  23:  12),  and  much  richer  and  more 
important  than  she;  and  Carthage,  an  African  colony  of  Tyre, 
and  the  powerful  rival  of  Rome;  which  in  the  days  of  Hannibal 
came  near  destroying  that  city  which  in  time  became  the  proud 
mistress  of  the  world. 

Heth,  his  second  son,  was  the  father  of  the  Hittites,  a  power- 
ful nation  or  tribe,  which  at  one  time  was  the  dominant  power 
in  Syria  and  Asia  Minor.  Then  follow  the  familiar  names  of 
Jebusites,  Amorites,  Girgashites,  and  Hivites,  and  the  less  familiar 
names  of  Arkites,  Sinites,  Arvadites,  Zemarites,  and  Hamathites; 
all  five  situated  to  the  north  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  and 
to  the  north  and  N.  W.  of  Damascus — names  of  peoples  and  not 
of  individuals.  After  this  is  given  the  exact  demarcation  of  the 
territory  of  the  Canaanites:  from  Sidon  on  the  N.  W.  to  Gaza 
on  the  S.  W.;  and  from  thence  to  the  Salt  (or  Dead)  Sea,  the 
site  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  and  Admah  and  Zeboim  (cities  de- 
stroyed in  the  days  of  Lot),  as  far  as  Lasha;  which  is  probably 
the  same  as  Callirrhoe,  of  the  Roman  period  (famous  for  its 
warm  baths),  situated  to  the  east  of  the  Salt  Sea; — that  is  to 
say,  the  land  of  Canaan  in  all  its  length  and  breadth;  from 
north  to  south  along  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean;  and  then 
from  east  to  west,  in  all  its  breadth,  from  the  Mediterranean  to 
beyond  the  Dead  or  Salt  Sea,  on  its  southern  border.  It  is  to 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  land  on  the  eastern  side  of  Jordan 
was  not  reputed  to  be  part  of  the  land  of  Canaan.  Josh.  22:  9, 
10.  19,  32. 


CHAPTER  10:  21—31  120 

10:  21 — 31.      THE  LINEAGE  OF   SHEM. 

21  And  unto  Shem,  the  father  of  all  the  children  of  Eber,*  the  elder 
brother  of  Japheth.t  to  him  also  were  children  born. 

22  The  sons  of  Shem :  Elam,  and  Asshur,  and  Arpachshad,  and 
Lud,  and  Aram. 

23  And  the  sons  of  Aram  :  Uz,  and  Hiil,  and  Gether,  and  Mash. 

24  And  Arpachshad  begat  Shelah ;  and  Shelah  begat  Eber. 

25  And  unto  Eber  were  born  two  sons :  the  name  of  the  one  was 
Peleg ;  for  in  his  days  was  the  earth  divided ;  and  his  brother's  name 
was  Joktan. 

26  And  Joktan  begat  Almodad,  and  Sheleph,  and  Hazarmaveth, 
and   Jerah, 

27  and   Hadoram,   and   Uzal,   and  Diklah, 

28  and  Obal,  and  Abimael,  and  Sheba, 

29  and  Ophir,  and  Havilah,  and  Jobab :  all  these  were  the  sons  of 
Joktan. 

30  And  their  dwelling  was  from  Mesha,  as  thou  goest  toward 
Sephar,  the  mountain  of  the  east. 

31  These  are  the  sons  of  Shem,  after  their  families,  after  their 
tongues,  in  their  lands,  after  their  nations. 

l*M.  8.  v.,  Heber.] 

[tA.  V.  and  if.  8.  V.,  brother  of  Japheth  the  elder.] 

In  vr.  21,  Shem  is  called  "the  father  of  all  the  children  of 
Heber,"  or  the  Hebrews  (see  ch.  14:  13),  which  was  his  chief  est 
glory,  because  that  was  the  line  of  the  promise.  His  sons  were 
Elam^the  ancient  Persians;  Asshur=the  Assyrians;  Arphaxad 
=probably  the  Chaldeans,  to  the  south,  of  Babylon;  Lud=zLydia, 
in  Asia  Minor;  Aramz=the  Syrians;  Uz,  who  perhaps  gave  name 
to  the  land  of  Uz,  of  which  the  holy  and  patient  patriarch  Job  was 
a  native,  towards  the  north  of  Arabia,  or  to  the  N.  E.  of  Edom; 
Hul,  Jeter  and  Mas,  of  whom  we  only  know  that  they  were 
tribes  of  Aram  or  Syria.  Of  the  two  sons  of  Heber,  the  one 
was  named  Peleg  (^Division),  from  the  circumstance  that  "in 
his  days  the  earth  was  divided."  This  may  be  understood  either 
physically  or  morally,  and  both  senses  have  their  defenders. 
Some  of  the  older  commentators  (and  even  Adam  Clarke,  in 
1810),  understood  it  of  the  division  of  the  earth  into  continents; 
on  the  supposition  that  formerly  all  the  different  continents  were 
united  in  one.  But  modern  science  has  settled  it  that  such  a  sense 
is  absolutely  untenable.  Nevertheless  it  is  possible  that  it  re- 
fers to  the  valley  of  the  river  Jordan;  a  fracture  of  the  crust 
of  the  earth  (the  most  remarkable  that  is  known  in  all  the 
world,  and  for  which  modern  science  can  assign  no  cause), 
which  is  called  the  "Arabah,"  and  extends  from  the  foot  of 
Lebanon  to  the  Red  Sea.  It  is  probable  that  this  material  cleavage 
of  the  crust  of  the  earth  (which  descends  to  a  depth  of  2600  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  ocean),  took  place  during  the  physical 
convulsions  which  caused  the  deluge  of  Noah;  but  if  not  this, 
nothing  that  is  known  would  be  more  worthy  of  commemoration 


130  GENESIS 

under  tlie  name  of  "Peleg"  than  this  "division"  of  the  land  so 
intimately  related  to  the  history  of  the  people  of  Israel  de- 
scended from  him. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  the  commonly  accepted  sense,  that  this 
"division"  of  the  earth,  from  which  Peleg  took  name,  refers 
rather  to  the  confusion  of  tongues  in  Babylon  (ch.  11:  1 — 9), 
which  was  the  cause  of  the  dispersion  of  men  through  all  the 
earth;  an  idea  which  the  Psalmist  expresses  by  this  identical 
word  {Heb.  palag),  where  he  says  in  Ps.  55:  9;  "divide  their 
tongue"  (=confound  their  speech  and  their  counsels). 

The  other  son  of  Heber,  Joktan,  had  thirteen  sons,  whose 
abode  is  determined  by  two  points  well  known  in  that  day — 
Mesha  and  Mount  Sephar — but  entirely  unknown  to  us.  It  is 
supposed,  nevertheless,  that  they  mark  out  an  extensive  terri- 
tory in  Arabia  which  embraces  all  the  south  and  a  great  part  of 
the  west  of  this  great  peninsula;  and  they  are  all  so  located  on 
the  already  cited  Map  1  of  the  Parallel  Bible,  which  is  the 
latest,  if  not  the  best  authority,  on  such  points.  Of  these  thirteen 
sons  of  Joktan,  three  deserve  special  mention,  to  wit,  Sheba, 
Havilah  (namesakes  of  two  of  the  sons  of  Cush),  and  Ophir, 
of  whom,  being  the  only  one  of  that  name  mentioned  in  the 
Bible,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the  country  from  whence 
came  the  most  famous  and  abundant  gold  of  ancient  times  took  its 
name  from  him.  There  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  fact  that  all  the 
Cushites  passed  first  to  Arabia,  and  from  thence  some  passed 
over  to  Africa,  while  others  remained  in  Arabia;  in  this  way  it 
was  very  easy  that  the  two  Shebas,  the  Cushite  and  the  Shemite, 
should  take  part  in  establishing  the  kingdom  of  that  name,  in 
Arabia  Felix  on  the  Red  Sea,  or  at  a  little  distance  from  it; 
which  some  regard  as  Cushite  and  others  as  Shemite.  It  may  be, 
therefore,  that  both  sides  are  right,  and  that  even  the  Abyssinians 
may  have  some  shadow  of  truth  in  their  contention  that  the 
Queen  of  Sheba  was  the  founder  of  their  kingdom  and  dynasty. 
With  regard  to  Havilah,  we  have  already  the  Cushite  of  this 
name  established  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  opposite  to  the  Strait  of 
Babel-mandeb;  the  map  already  cited  of  the  Parallel  Bible  lo- 
cates the  Shemite  of  this  name  on  the  Arabian  coast  of  the  Red 
Sea,  some  200  miles  to  the  north.  The  book  of  Genesis  speaks 
of  three  other  Havilahs  (in  vr.  7;  ch.  2:  11;  25:  18;  to  which 
we  may  add  1  Sam.  15:  7);  but  I  believe  that  what  has  been 
said  is  quite  sufficient  on  a  tangled  point,  where  much  is  doubtful, 
and  nothing  sure. 

Ophir  also,  the  eleventh  son  of  Joktan,  and  the  only  one  of  the 
name,  is  believed  to  be  the  same  who  gave  name  to  a  certain 


CHAPTER  10:  32  131 

region  in  the  south  of  Arabia,  that  was  rich  in  gold  and  precious 
stones.  Others  believe  that  the  Ophir  from  whence  came  the 
renowned  gold  of  that  name,  was  situated  in  India;  and  others 
still,  in  the  south  of  Africa,  where  exist  the  mines  so  fabulously 
rich  in  gold  and  diamonds; — rich  beyond  anything  hitherto  dis- 
covered in  the  known  world. 

All  the  Shemite  tribes  established  themselves  in  the  western 
part  of  Asia,  and  to  the  south  of  the  Asiatic  branches  of  Japheth 
(who  occupied  the  sea  coast  of  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas), 
extending  to  the  south  of  Arabia  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  the 
Persian  Gulf  on  the  other;  although  to  some  extent  mixed  with 
the  descendants  of  Ham.  But  while  the  descendants  of  Shem 
and  Ham  found  themselves  bounded  by  seas  and  deserts,  and 
limited  in  their  resources  by  this  fact,  the  family  of  Japheth, 
with  the  unlimited  field  that  fell  to  their  lot,  scattered  them- 
selves over  all  Europe  and  over  the  north,  the  centre,  and  the 
east  of  Asia;  and  with  healthy  climates,  abundant  forests,  inex- 
haustible resources,  and  a  continual  fight  with  the  difficulties  of 
their  wild  life,  developed  a  physical  strength,  a  freedom  of  soul 
and  a  spirit  of  enterprise,  properly  their  own;  and  with  abun- 
dance of  food  and  ample  territories,  they  multiplied  and  In- 
creased as  was  impossible  to  the  descendants  of  Shem  and  Ham. 

10:  32.   THE   PROGENITOBS    OF    THE   EXISTING    NATIONS    OF    THE    WOELD. 

32  These  are  the  families  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  after  their  genera- 
tions, in  their  nations ;  and  of  these  were  the  nations  divided*  in 
the  earth  after  the  flood. 

[*M.  S.  v.,  disseminated.] 

It  is  therefore  futile  and  contradictory  to  the  Scriptures  to 
suppose  that  there  was  any  other  race,  or  races,  in  some  corners 
of  the  earth,  who  took  part  in  producing  the  existing  popula- 
tion of  the  world. 

[Note  19. — On  the  essential  unity  of  all  the  different  races  of 
mankind.  There  has  been  age-long  dispute  on  this  point;  its 
opponents  alleging  in  opposition  thereto  the  impossibility  of  so 
many  races,  and  so  different  in  form,  features,  color,  hair,  etc., 
deriving  their  origin  from  one  and  the  same  stock;  but  for  those 
who  accept  the  Scriptures  as  a  divine  revelation,  the  question 
is  susceptible  of  ready  and  simple  resolution.  The  word  of  God 
affirms  it  many  times,  and  in  different  ways,  as  we  have  already 
seen;  and  this  for  us  settles  the  dispute.  Acts  17:  26  says  ex- 
pressly "That  God  made  of  one  blood  (or  nature)  all  the 
nations  of  men,  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  The 
testimony  of  God  is  for  us  decisive.     Nevertheless  it  will  not  be 


132  GENESIS 

amiss  to  indicate  in  order  the  principal  arguments  which  sus- 
tain this  opinion.     They  are: 

1st.  The  clear  and  peremptory  and  repeated  testimony  of  the 
word  of  God.  2nd.  The  redemption  of  Christ  was  made  for  the 
benefit  of  his  brethren  according  to  the  flesh.  Since,  therefore, 
his  redemption  was  for  all  the  families  of  men,  all  of  them, 
of  necessary  consequence,  are  related  to  him  in  that  human 
nature  which  he  assumed.  If  there  were  many  races,  or  even 
two  or  three,  that  would  put  an  end  to  the  unity  of  the  race 
and  consequently  to  the  solidarity  of  Christ's  redemption.  3rd. 
The  physical  nature  of  all  the  families  of  men  is  one  and  the 
same — bones,  muscles,  nerves,  veins  and  arteries;  the  entire 
anatomy  is  identical,  without  increase  or  diminution,  in  all  of 
them.  4th.  All  of  them  cross  perfectly;  and  the  progeny  which 
thence  results  is  as  productive  as  the  families  which  crossed; 
while  among  different  races  of  animals,  reproduction  is  either 
impossible,  or  the  progeny  is  sterile;  as  is  true  of  the  cross 
between  the  ass  and  the  horse.  5th.  The  same  intellectual  and 
moral  nature  is  common  to  all,  notwithstanding  the  extreme 
degradation  to  which  some  of  them  have  been  reduced;  the 
same  state  of  sin,  the  same  necessity  for  redemption  and  the  same 
capacity  for  it.  6th.  The  allegation  that  it  is  impossible  that 
so  great  differences  in  color,  hair,  language,  etc.,  should  origi- 
nate among  members  of  the  same  race,  is  refuted  by  the  facts. 
It  has  been  seen,  and  it  is  seen,  that  under  unfavorable  circum- 
stances of  climate,  food,  complete  abandonment  and  despotic 
oppression,  among  tribes  and  nations  of  the  same  race,  the  most 
surprising  changes  result  in  a  very  few  generations;  as  is  seen 
in  the  case  of  the  Eskimos,  the  Lapps,  the  Patagonians,  and 
other  peoples  driven  forth  into  pestiferous  climates  and  into 
Arctic  regions  by  the  hand  of  the  invader.  And  among  savage 
tribes  it  has  been  seen,  that  when  all  dealing  between  them  ceases, 
their  languages  change  in  such  a  manner  that  in  a  few  genera- 
tions they  do  not  understand  each  other.  And  as  to  color,  the 
"black  Jews"  will  answer  for  that.  In  fact  the  Jews,  without 
mixing  with  other  races,  vary  in  the  color  of  their  skin,  hair  and 
eyes,  among  all  the  peoples  and  in  all  the  climates  of  the  world, 
where  they  have  long  resided;  from  the  fair  complexion,  blond 
hair  and  blue  eyes  of  the  Danish  Jew,  to  the  black  or  swarthy 
color  of  the  Jews  of  India  and  Africa. 

With  regard  to  "the  Negroes,"  properly  so  called,  it  is  believed 
by  the  most  eminent  scientists  that  their  distinctive  peculiarities 
of  hair,  color,  nose,  lips,  etc.,  are  not  original,  but  are  due  to 
peculiar  conditions,  as  for  example,  a  warm  and  humid  climate. 


CHAPTER  11:  1—9  133 

bad  and  insufficient  food,  and  other  like  causes;  being  the  result 
of  the  degeneration  of  the  copper-colored  African  races,  which 
are  every  way  superior — modifications  of  structure  which,  by  a 
natural  law,  when  once  introduced,  become  permanent. 

It  is  a  singular  example  of  the  inconsistencies  of  the  human 
spirit  in  the  matter  of  religion,  that  those  who  reject  as  absurd 
and  impossible  the  Bible  doctrine  that  the  different  families  of 
men  are  all  the  descendants  of  Adam  and  of  Noah,  should  find 
no  difficulty  whatever  in  sustaining,  as  highly  scientific,  that 
they  all  alike  derive  their  origin  ^rom  monkeys!  Thus  God 
makes  one  error  to  confute  another.] 

CHAPTER  XI. 

VRS.   1 — 9.      THE  TOAVEB  OF  BABYLON    (or  Babel),  AND  THE  CONFUSION 
OF  TONGUES.       (2247  B.  C.) 

1  And  the  whole  earth  was  of  one  language*  and  of  one  speech. 

2  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  journeyed  east,  that  they  found  a 
plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar ;  and  they  dwelt  there. 

3  And  they  said  one  to  another,  Come,  let  us  make  brick,  and 
burn  them  thoroughly.  And  they  had  brick  for  stone,  and  slimef  had 
they  for  mortar. 

4  And  they  said,  Come  let  us  build  us  a  city,  and  a  tower,  whose 
top  may  reach  uuto  heaven,  and  let  us  make  us  a  name;  lest  we  be 
scattered  abroad  vipon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth, 

5  And  .Teho\'ah  came  down  to  see  the  city  and  the  tower,  which  the 
children  of  men  builded. 

6  And  Jehovah  said,  Behold,  they  are  one  people,  and  they  have 
all  one  language ;  and  this  is  what  they  begin  to  do  :  and  now  nothing 
will  be  withholdeu  from  them,  which  they  purpose  to  do. 

7  Come,  let  us  go  down,  and  there  confound  their  language,  that 
they  may  not   understand  one  another's  speech. 

8  So'jehovah  scattered  them  abroad  from  thence  upon  the  face  of 
all  the  earth  :  and  they  left  off  building  the  city. 

9  Therefore  was  the  name  of  it  called  Babel ;  because  Jehovah 
did  there  confound  the  language*  of  all  the  earth:  and  from  thence 
did  .Jehovah  scatter  them  abroad  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth. 

*Ee}).  lip.  Yl'hat  is,  bitumen. 

At  no  remote  period  of  the  past  it  was  generally  believed,  both 
by  Jews  and  Christians,  and  many  still  believe  it,  that  the 
Hebrew  was  the  primitive  language  of  men,  spoken  in  Eden, 
and  in  the  ark  of  Noah;  continued  in  the  line  of  the  promise 
after  the  confusion  of  tongues;  preserved  in  its  integrity  in  the 
family  of  Abraham;  kept  uncontaminated  by  the  Jews  in  Egypt, 
and  used  by  them  till  the  Babylonish  Captivity;  during  the 
seventy  years  of  which,  however,  scattered  as  they  were  among 
the  heathen,  they  exchanged  it  for  the  Chaldean  or  Aramaic, 
spoken  in  Palestine  in  the  days  of  Christ.  Of  this  substitution 
of  Chaldean  or  Aramaic  (called  "Hebrew"  in  the  New  Testament, 


134  GENESIS 

Acts  21:  40;  22:  2),  there  is  not  the  least  doubt;  and  the  change 
effected  so  suddenly,  in  less  than  70  years,  a  change  so  serious 
that  the  ancient  Scriptures  should  need  to  be  interpreted  or 
explained  to  the  captives,  when  they  returned  to  their  own  land, 
in  order  to  be  well  understood  by  them  (Neh.  8:  8.  Comp.  Ezra 
4:7),  makes  it  difficult  to  conceive  how  it  was  kept  in  its  in- 
tegrity from  Adam  to  Noah,  and  from  Noah  to  Moses,  in  spite  of 
all  the  changes  through  which  they  passed  in  this  time.  It  is 
perhaps  possible;  but  we  call  to  mind  the  fact  that  Jacob  and 
his  maternal  uncle,  Laban,  spoke  different  languages  (ch.  31:  47 
■ — 49),  Laban  speaking  Aramaic,  or  Syriac,  the  language  of 
Haran  (or  Charran),  where  Terah  the  father  of  Abraham  died, 
while  Jacob  spoke  "the  language  of  Canaan,"  where  his  fathers 
lived;  a  language  which  they  carried  with  them  to  Egypt,  and 
living  apart  from  the  Egyptians,  they  preserved  it;  and  on  re- 
turning, they  found  it  still  in  use  among  the  Canaanites.  Be- 
sides this,  on  existing  monuments,  in  Tyre  and  Sidon,  have  been 
found  inscriptions  in  the  Hebrew  character.  It  seems  probable, 
therefore,  that  when  Abraham  came  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  he 
dropped  the  language  of  his  own  people  and  family,  and  adopted 
"the  language  of  Canaan."     Isa.  19:  18. 

But  however  this  may  be,  the  children  and  descendants  of 
Noah  spoke  the  same  language,  whether  it  were  Hebrew  or  some 
other,  more  or  less  different;  and  the  confusion  of  their  lan- 
guage, of  which  this  paragraph  treats,  came  to  break  the  bond  of 
union  between  them,  and  "scatter  them  abroad  over  the  face  of 
the  whole  earth." 

If  "the  land  of  Ararat,"  where  the  ark  came  to  rest,  is  the  same 
which  we  call  Armenia,  about  which  there  is  dispute,  it  is  some- 
what difficult  to  see  how  going  "toward  the  east"  (or,  "from 
the  east,"  for  the  original  is  susceptible  of  both  translations), 
they  should  arrive  at  the  land  of  Shinar,  where  Babylon  wa3 
situated;  that  city  being  five  hundred  miles  in  a  straight  line 
to  the  south  of  Mount  Ararat;  but  as  Armenia  is  an  extremely 
broken  country,  on  account  of  its  many  and  elevated  mountain 
ranges,  it  is  natural  that  in  moving  their  encampments  towards 
the  south,  and  following  the  general  course  of  the  river  Euphrates 
(which  has  its  source  there),  they  should  reach  a  point  where 
the  river  turns  to  the  E.  S.  E.,  and  follows  this  course  for  a 
thousand  miles,  until  it  empties  into  the  Persian  Gulf.  The 
course  of  the  river  is  more  toward  the  east  than  the  south,  and 
this  in  Hebrew  usage  would  fulfil  sufficiently  well  the  condi- 
tions of  the  text.  So  they  came  at  last  to  that  immense  plain  in 
the   land   of   Shinar   through   which   run   the   two   great   rivers 


CHAPTER  11:  1—9  135 

Euphrates  and  Tigris  (both  of  them  originating  in  the  mountains 
of  Armenia),  which  pleased  them  so  well  that  by  common  consent 
they  established  themselves  there,  upon  the  river  Euphrates; 
where  they  began  at  once  to  build  their  tower  and  their  city. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  all  the  descendants  of  Noah  for- 
sook Armenia,  nor  that  all  who  went  out  from  thence  in  search 
of  better  lands  and  a  more  genial  climate,  came  to  pitch  precisely 
on  the  site  of  Babylon; — as  the  plain  was  immense,  and  em- 
braced a  great  part  of  both  the  ancient  empires  of  Assyria  and 
Babylon.  Reference  is  had  rather,  to  that  numerous  and  principal 
company  of  them  to  which  the  writer  now  directs  our  attention, 
which  remained  together  for  their  mutual  protection  and  profit. 

There  had  now  passed  more  than  one  hundred  years,  perhaps 
more  than  two  hundred  years,  after  the  deluge*  (see  comments 
on  Peleg,  eh.  10:  25),  and  as  the  population  of  the  world  was 
still  sparse,  all  these  "cities,"  including  Babylon  and  Nineveh, 
would  be  places  of  no  great  size.  Compare  the  "city"  which  Cain 
was  building  when  his  son  Enoch  was  born.  See  ch.  4:  17,  and 
comments. 

The  contrary  opinion,  that  the  city  and  the  tower  of  Babel, 
or  Babylon,  was  at  this  time  really  great,  and  the  population 
very  large,  gave  occasion,  in  part,  for  the  Version  of  the  LXX  to 
add  a  hundred  years  to  the  life  of  all  these  post-diluvian  pa- 
triarchs (from  Arphaxad  to  Nahor,  the  father  of  Terah  and 
grandfather  of  Abraham)  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  the  first 
son  mentioned,  and  to  insert  bodily  Cainan  with  his  130  years 
more,  between  Arphaxad  and  Shelah;  giving  thus  531  years  be- 
tween the  deluge  and  the  birth  of  Peleg,  instead  of  the  101  of 
the  Hebrew  text;  and  1307  between  the  deluge  and  the  calling  of 
Abraham,  instead  of  427.     See  Note  12,  on  Biblical  Chronology. 

♦On  this  point,  an  intelligent  friend  writes  me  that  Paul's  express 
statement  that  the  giving  of  the  Law  was  430  years  after  the  covenant 
made  with  Abraham  (Gal.  3:17)  settles  that  point  with  him  for  all 
time :  but  that  he  does  not  think  the  accepted  chronology  allows  suf- 
ficient time  between  the  Deluge  and  Abraham,  for  the  great  population  he 
supposes  there  was  in  the  world  at  that  time ;  and  he  claims  that  the 
Hebrew  text  is  not  as  explicit  on  this  point  as  on  the  other.  This  is  a 
matter  I  am  not  competent  to  handle.  My  comments  on  the  test  are 
based  on  the  commonly  accepted  chronology.  But  it  is  in  any  case  note- 
worthy that  while  the  translators  of  the  old  Septuagint  Version  (and  of 
the  Samaritan  Version  as  well),  hold  tenaciously  to  the  430  years  be- 
tween the  calling  of  Abraham  and  the  giving  of  the  Law,  they  add  887 
years  to  the  preceding  period,  making  it  1307  years  from  the  Deluge  to 
the  calling  of  Abraham,  instead  of  427.  See  how  they  do  this,  in  Note 
12,  on  Dihlical  Chronolofjy.  Those  who  plead  the  necessity  of  gaining 
time,  usually  accept  this  as  nearer  the  truth. — Tr. 


136  GENESIS 

These  changes,  made  in  the  Greek  Version  of  the  LXX  (done  in 
Egypt,  between  280  and  150  B.  C),  in  the  presence  of  the  pyramids 
and  the  other  colossal  monuments  of  Egypt,  and  its  exaggerated 
chronology,  which  carried  their  kingdom  backward  far  beyond 
the  times  of  Noah,  clearly  manifest  the  object  they  had  in  view; 
and  although,  for  reasons  given  in  that  Hote,  we  cannot  have  an 
absolute  confidence  in  the  numbers  of  the  Hebrew  text,  we  do 
not  on  this  account  reject  them,  without  greater  cause  than  the 
changes  which  were  so  purposely  introduced  into  the  Version  of 
the  LXX.  On  the  contrary,  we  accept  the  idea  that  the  popula- 
i  tion  of  the  world  was  still  small,  and  that  those  cities,  founded 
or  subdued  by  Nimrod  and  Asshur  were  comparatively  small 
towns:  all  small  towns  had  kings,  and  were  fortified  and  walled  in 
those  ancient  times  (ch.  14:8;  19:20—22;  26:1,  16);  the  five 
"Cities  of  the  Plain"  occvipying  in  part  what  is  now  the  site  of 
the  Dead  Sea.  Gen.  14:  3.  And  such,  I  think  is  undoubtedly  the 
idea  of  the  Bible.  A  numerous  population  is  never  migratory; 
but  vrs.  2,  3  inform  us  that  these  people  continued  to  move  their 
encampments  until  they  came  to  this  great  plain  in  the  land  of 
Shinar;  and  at  once  they  set  about  to  build  their  tower  and 
their  city.  The  poets,  the  artists  and  the  ancient  romancers  have 
undoubtedly  given  us  some  exaggerated  ideas  of  this  work.  The 
object  of  the  work,  given  in  the  text,  was  not  that  of  scaling  the 
heavens,  nor  defying  the  wrath  of  Heaven,  nor  yet  to  laugh  at 
another  deluge  of  waters.  "They  said:  Go  to,  let  us  build  us  a 
city  and  a  tower,  whose  top  may  reach  unto  heaven,  and  let  us 
make  iis  a  navie;  lest  we  he  scattered  abroad  upon  the  -face  of 
the  whole  earth"  (vr.  4) ;  which  was  precisely  what  God  desired 
to  effect,  and  what  he  had  ordered,  when  Noah  and  his  sons 
went  forth  out  of  the  ark.  Ch.  9:  1.  When  we  bring  into  view 
Deut.  1:  28,  where  the  cowardly  spies  said,  to  discourage  the 
people,  "that  the  cities  (of  the  Canaanites)  are  great  and  forti' 
fied  up  to  heaven,"  we  shall  see  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  under- 
stand literally  the  words  a  "tower  whose  top  shall  reach  to 
heaven."  Comp.  Amos  2:  9.  The  concentration  of  population  and 
of  power  was  evidently  their  purpose. 

The  tower  of  Babylon  was  a  project  well  worthy  of  the  ambi- 
tion and  impiety  of  Nimrod,  and  of  his  dreams  of  empire  and 
irresistible  power; — on  the  supposition  that  this  was  his  en- 
terprise. But  God  destroyed  their  project,  and  confounding  the 
language  (Heft,  lip)  of  the  people,  he  rendered  impossible  free 
communication  between  them;  and  in  this  way  he  dispersed  them 
to  the  four  winds  of  heaven. 

With  this  blow  of  the  avenging  rod  of  God,  came  to  an  end  the 


CHAPTER  11:  1—9  137 

third  experiment  (so  to  speak)  which  God  was  making  with  the 
apostate  race.  See  pp.  S7,  113,  144.  They  had  again  turned  their 
baclis  on  God,  making  haste  to  cast  into  oblivion  the  terrible 
lesson  of  the  Flood;  and  so,  with  the  confusion  of  their  speech, 
God  "delivered  them  up  (without  any  restraint)  to  the  lusts  of 
their  own  hearts";  and  placed  a  species  of  interdict  upon  these 
nations  of  "forgetters  of  God,"  separating  them  from  all  inter- 
course with  those  few  with  whom  there  yet  remained  something 
of  the  true  religion;  as  says  Paul  in  Rom.  1:  28:  "And  even  as 
they  refused  to  have  God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  up 
to  a  reprobate  viind,  to  do  those  things  which  are  not  fitting." 

In  vr.  7  we  have  the  same  form  of  divine  consultation  as  in  ch. 
1:  26,  and  it  has  the  same  explanation.  If  we  accept  the  theory 
that  Moses  incorporated  with  his  history  a  number  of  documents 
which  he  found  existing  in  his  day,  either  orally,  or  in  parch- 
ment, or  on  baked  clay,  we  should  say  that  this  relation  may  be 
one  of  them,  for  it  bears  on  its  face  indications  of  an  extreme 
antiquity,  and  of  a  very  primitive  state  of  society,  in  which  an 
exaggerated  anthropomorphism  was  the  natural  manner  in  which 
men  spoke  of  God,  attributing  to  him  human  actions  and  pas- 
sions with  a  degree  of  freedom  which  would  be  tolerated  only 
among  primitive  peoples. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  with  which 
the  people  went  about  this  enterprise.  As  stone,  and  lime  for 
mortar,  were  lacking  in  that  country,  they  adopted  the  expe- 
dient of  putting  thoroughly  burnt  brick  instead  of  stone,  and 
bitumen  or  asphalt  (called  "slime"  in  the  text;  abundant  sup- 
plies of  which  were  found  at  Hit,  140  miles  higher  up  the  river) 
instead  of  mortar;  with  which  they  went  heroically  forward  in 
their  work,  till  God  put  an  end  to  it.  Until  quite  recent  times 
it  was  believed  that  even  the  site  of  Babylon  was  completely 
lost;  according  to  the  many  notable  predictions  of  the  ancient 
Hebrew  prophets  with  regard  to  the  utter  and  perpetual  destruc- 
tion and  desolation  of  that  proud  and  oppressing  city.  But  at 
last,  diligent  investigators  have  been  able  to  identify  the  site; 
and  among  other  ruins,  buried  in  immense  mounds  of  debris, 
there  stands  one  of  notable  elevation,  which  bears  today  the  name 
of  Birs  Nimrod;  which  many  believe  to  have  been  part  of  the 
ancient  tower  of  Babylon,  or  Babel;  which  Nebuchadnezzar  found 
half  ruined,  and  re-built  and  embellished  with  extraordinary 
magnificence.  The  tradition  related  by  the  Jewish  historian 
Josephus,  to  the  effect  that  God  beat  down  the  tower  with 
lightnings  and  horrible  tempest,  may  well  have  been  founded  on 
fact;  but  the  Bible  says  nothing  about  it. 


138  GENESIS 

11:  10 — 26.       THE    DESCENDANTS    OF    SIIEM,    IN    THE   LINE    OF   THE 

PROMISE.     (From  2346  to  2056  b.  c.) 

10  These  are  the  generations  of  Shem.  Shem  was  a  hundred  years 
old,  and  begat  Arpachshad  two  years  after  the  flood  : 

11  and  Shem  lived  after  he  begat  Arpachshad  five  hundred  years, 
and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

12  And  Arpachshad  lived  five  and  thirty  years,  and  begat  Shelah  : 

13  and  Arpachshad  lived  after  he  begat  Shelah  four  hundred  and 
three  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

14  And  Shelah  lived  thirty  years,  and  begat  Eber : 

15  and  Shelah  lived  after  he  begat  Eber  four  hundred  and  three 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

16  And  Eber  lived  four  and  thirty  years,  and  begat  Peleg: 

17  and  Eber  lived  after  he  begat  Peleg  four  hundred  and  thirty 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

18  And  Peleg  lived  thirty  years,  and  begat  Reu  : 

19  and  Peleg  lived  after  he  begat  Reu  tvpo  hundred  and  nine  years, 
and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

20  And  Reu  lived  two  and  thirty  years,  and  begat  Serug : 

21  and  Reu  lived  after  he  begat  Serug  two  hundred  and  seven 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

22  And   Serug  lived  thirty  years,  and  begat  Nahor : 

23  and  Serug  lived  after  he  begat  Nahor  two  hundred  years,  and 
begat  sons  and  daughters. 

24  And  Nahor  lived  nine  and  twenty  years,  and  begat  Terah  : 

25  and  Nahor  lived  after  he  begat  Terah  a  hundred  and  nineteen 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

26  And  Terah  lived  seventy  years,  and  begat  Abram,  Nahor,  and 
Haran. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  in  this  genealogical  table,  as  in  the 
one  found  in  ch.  5,  the  son  indicated  is  not  always  the  firstborn, 
but  is  the  one  ivlio  follows  in  the  line  of  the  promise.  The  list 
begins  with  Shem  and  his  son  Arphaxad  (or  Arpachshad),  who 
was  born  two  years  after  the  deluge;  but  if  we  hold  as  chronological 
the  order  found  in  ch.  10:  22,  Shem  had  two  sons,  Elam  and 
Asshur,  before  Arphaxad,  and  so  he  (Arphaxad)  was  third  in 
the  order  of  his  birth.  We  might  believe  indeed  that  one  of  the 
two  was  born  before  the  deluge,  or  at  least  in  the  ark,  except 
that  ch.  10:  1  tells  us  expressly  that  the  children  of  the  sons  of 
Noah  were  all  born  after  the  flood.  As  therefore  two  years  is  very 
little  time  for  the  birth  of  three  sons,  it  is  probable  that  the  two 
first  were  twins;  and  thus  Arphaxad  came  to  be  third.  The  same 
thing  happened  in  the  case  of  Abram,  or  Abraham,  who  was  the 
third  son  of  Terah,  although  his  name  is  always  given  as  the  first 
of  the  three  brothers.  Vr.  26.  According  to  Acts  7:  4,  Abram  went 
forth  from  Haran  (or  "Charran")  after  the  death  of  his  father 
at  the  age  of  205,  according  to  ch.  11:  32;  and  according  to  ch, 
12:  4,  "Abram  was  75  years  of  age,  when  he  departed  from 
Haran";  so  that  he  was  not  born  when  his  father  was  70  years  old, 
as  might  be  inferred  from  vr.  20  of  this  chapter,  but  sixty  years 
later.    And  as  Nahor  married  the  daughter  of  his  brother  Haran,- 


CHAPTER  11:  27—32  139 

it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  Haran  was  the  first-born  of  Terah 
(65  years  older  than  Abraham)  who  died  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees; 
and  that  Nahor  was  the  second;  although  Abraham  is  mentioned 
first  on  account  of  his  pre-eminent  dignity,  as  "he  who  had  re- 
ceived the  promises,"  Heb.  11:  17. 

11:  27 — 32.     MEMOIRS  of  terah.     the  fourth  experiment,     the 

CALLING    OF    ABRAM,    OK    ABRAHAM.       (FrOm    1996    tO    1921    B.    C.) 

27  Now  these  are  the  generations  of  Terah,  Terah  begat  Abram, 
Nahor,  and  Haran  ;  and  Haran  begat  Lot. 

28  And  Haran  died  before  his  father  Terah  in  the  land  of  his 
nativity,  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees. 

29  And  Abram  and  Nahor  took  them  wives :  the  name  of  Abram's 
wife  was  Sarai ;  and  the  name  of  Nahor's  wife,  Milcah,  the  daughter 
of  Haran,  the  father  of  Milcah,  and  the  father  of  Iscah. 

30  And  Sarai  was  barren ;  she  had  no  child. 

31  And  Terah  took  Abram  bis  son,  and  Lot  the  son  of  Haran,  his 
son's  son,  and  Sarai  his  daughter-in-law,  his  son  Abram's  wife ;  and 
they  went  forth  with  them  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  to  go  into  the 
land  of  Canaan ;  and  they  came  unto  Haran,  and  dwelt  there. 

32  And  the  days  of  Terah  were  two  hundred  and  five  years :  and 
Terah  died  in  Haran. 

As  this  is  not  a  genealogical  table  it  is  evident  that  we  must 
avail  ourselves  again  of  the  secondary  use  of  the  word  "genera- 
tions" in  vr.  27,  viz.,  that  of  memoirs,  or  domestic  history.  See 
comments  on  ch.  2:  4. 

Here  are  repeated  the  names  of  the  sons  of  Terah,  in  the  order 
given  in  vr.  26;  and  Abram,  or  Abraham,  is  again  placed  before' 
his  two  brothers,  Nahor  and  Haran,  although  he  was  the  youngest 
of  the  three.  We  learn  therefore  from  these  memoirs  of  Terah, 
studied  in  connection  with  ch.  12:  1 — 4,  and  Acts  7:  2 — 4,  that 
while  Abram  was  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  to  the  south  of  Babylon, 
and  at  no  great  distance  from  where  the  river  Euphrates  empties 
into  the  Persian  Gulf,  God  appeared  to  him;  and  "before  he  dwelt 
in  Haran"  (or  Charran),  commanded  him  to  go  forth  from  his 
country  and  from  his  kindred  and  from  the  house  of  his  father 
into  a  land  which  he  would  show  him.  It  does  not  appear  from 
the  words  of  Stephen,  in  Acts  7:2,  3,  that  on  this  occasion  God 
made  him  any  special  promises;  but  that,  appearing  to  him  as 
"the  God  of  glory,"  he  commanded  him  to  separate  from  all  of 
his  own  people,  and  to  follow  him  into  another  land,  without 
even  telling  him  where  it  was.  If  we  interpret  strictly  the 
words,  it  would  seem  that  this  was  on  the  part  of  Abram  an 
act  of  ohedience  to  the  command  which  God  had  given  him; 
rather  than  an  act  of  faith  in  great  promises  which  he  then 
made  him.  It  seems  that  this  was  the  very  thought  of  Stephen, 
to  wit,  that  he  called  him  first,  but  did  not  make  promises  to  him 


140  GENESIS 

until  the  second  calling,  after  the  death  of  his  father.  Three  ex- 
periments having  already  failed,  which  God  was  making  with  the 
lost  race  of  Adam  (pp.  87,  113),  he  enters  here  upon  a  fourth, 
and  on  a  footing  totally  different  from  the  preceding;  in  order 
to  preserve  at  least  some  remnants  of  true  religion  in  the  earth, 
until  "the  fulness  of  the  time  when  he  would  send  forth  his  Son;" 
and  in  order  to  prepare  the  world  beforehand  for  this  mission  of 
the  promised  "Seed  of  the  Woman,"  who  was  to  make  an 
end  of  the  kingdom  and  power  of  the  Serpent  in  the  earth. 
This  fourth  experiment  was  to  choose  one  man,  separate  him 
from  his  own  family  and  people,  and  educate  and  train  him 
and  his  descendants  to  love  and  serve  and  obey  Jehovah 
in  entire  separation  from  the  other  nations.  But  contrary 
to  the  plan  and  design  of  God,  Terah,  and  almost  all  the 
family,  determined  to  accompany  Abram  on  his  journey  to 
the  land  of  Canaan;  and,  in  fact,  they  set  out  for  that  point. 
Haran  (05  years  older  than  Abram)  was  now  dead,  leaving  two 
daughters,  of  whom  the  elder,  Milcah,  married  her  uncle  Nahor, 
and  became  the  mother  of  Rebekah,  the  wife  of  Isaac  (ch.  24: 
47);  and  the  second,  Iscah  (which  in  the  common  belief  of  Jews 
and  Christians  was  another  name  of  Sarai)  married  her  uncle 
Abram;  bearing  the  name  of  Iscah  first,  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees, 
and  Sarai  {—"ray  princess")  after  her  marriage.  If  it  was  not 
so,  the  mention  of  Iscah  in  vr.  29,  as  a  well  known  person,  would 
be  idle;  for  the  name  is  not  mentioned  again  in  the  Bible. 
Others  base  on  ch.  20:  13  (where  Abram  says  that  Sarai  was 
"the  daughter  of  my  father,  but  not  the  daughter  of  my  mother") 
the  belief  that  Sarai  was  the  daughter  of  Terah  by  a  second 
marriage,  or  by  some  concubine  or  secondary  wife  that  he  had, 
and  that  thus  she  was  Abram's  half  sister.  Others  still,  conjec- 
ture that  of  the  two  supposed  wives  of  Terah,  one  was  the  mother 
of  Haran,  the  father  of  Iscah  or  Sarai,  and  the  other,  the  mother 
of  Abram;  so  that  when  he  married  this  niece  of  his,  daughter 
of  his  half-brother,  he  might  say  that  she  was  Jiis  sister  (in  the 
same  sense  in  which  Lot,  son  of  Haran,  is  called  his  "brother" 
in  ch.  14:  14), — "the  daughter  of  my  father,  but  not  the  daughter 
of  my  mother." 

On  the  supposition,  therefore,  that  Iscah  and  Sarai  were  one 
and  the  same  person,  we  say  that  Terah,  as  the  head  of  the  tribe, 
after  the  death  of  Haran  took  with  him  nearly  all  the  family, 
including  Lot,  the  younger  brother  of  the  wives  of  his  two  uncles, 
Abram  and  Nahor,  and  started  to  go  to  the  land  of  Canaan;  thus 
defeating  the  purpose  and  plan  of  God;  of  which  probably  he 
knew  nothing.     There  were  more  than  1000  miles  in  this  jour- 


CHAPTER  11:  27— 32  141 

ney;  because,  on  account  of  the  impassable  desert  of  Arabia, 
which  lay  between  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  and  the  land  of  Canaan, 
they  had  to  follow  the  course  of  the  Euphrates  towards  the  N. 
W.,  650  miles  in  a  direct  line,  to  the  fords  of  the  river,  beyond 
Haran;  and  then  500  miles  in  a  direct  line,  towards  the  S.  W.,  to 
Hebron,  or  Beersheba,  which  became  Abraham's  familiar  places  of 
abode.  But  it  seems  that  Terah  became  weary  of  the  long 
journey,  and  when  they  arrived  at  Haran,  or  Charran  (as  we 
have  it  in  Acts  7:2,  A.  V.),  a  short  distance  from  the  fords  of 
Carchemish  (2  Chron.  35:  20;  Jer.  46:  2),  he  stopped  there; 
and  finding  the  place  to  his  liking  and  good  for  his  business,  they 
remained  there,  we  cannot  tell  how  many  years;  but  we  do 
know  that  there  Abram  and  Lot  became  rich  (ch.  12:  5;  13:  2), 
and  there  Terah  died,  without  ever  reaching  the  land  of  Canaan; 
a  sad  example  of  enterprises  unfinished,  due  to  a  dilatory  and 
fickle  spirit;  and  a  type  of  that  multitude  of  persons  who  begin 
the  march  to  the  heavenly  Canaan,  but  occupy  themselves  with 
other  things  by  the  way,  and  die  without  ever  reaching  it. 

The  names  of  Nahor  and  his  wife  Milcah  are  not  found  in  the 
list  of  those  whom  Terah  took  with  him  (vr.  31) ;  but  later  he  did 
follow  them,  probably  during  the  lifetime  of  Terah;  for  in 
subsequent  years,  when  Abraham  was  seeking  a  wife  for  his  son 
Isaac,  we  find  them  located  there,  and  Haran  is  called  the  "city 
of  Nahor."  Ch.  24:  15,  10.  The  name  of  Haran  the  son  of  Terah, 
ought  not  to  be  confounded  with  "Haran"  (or  "Charran"),  that 
of  the  place  where  Terah  died.  The  English  reader  naturally 
infers  that  there  is  some  connection  between  the  two.  But  there 
is  none;  the  two  names  are  entirely  distinct  in  Hebrew,  being 
"Haran"  the  one,  and  "Charran"  the  other;  which  latter  form 
is  given  in  the  A.  V.  of  Acts  7:2,  4.  The  R.  V.  confounds  the 
two.  The  Modern  Spanish  Version  preserves  the  distinction; 
but  in  this  translation,  I  follow  the  established  English  usage, 
with  the  explanation  given,  that  there  is  no  connection  whatever 
between  the  two  names. 

There  has  been  much  dispute  regarding  Ur  of  the  Chaldees, 
the  native  city  of  Abraham;  some  locfi,ting  it  to  the  N.  W.  of 
Mesopotamia,  a  short  distance  to  the  north  of  Haran,  where 
Terah  died.  This  is  undoubtedly  an  error,  founded  on  the  im- 
perfect understanding  of  the  words  of  Stephen,  "while  he 
(Abraham)  was  in  Mesopotamia,  before  he  dwelt  in  Charran." 
"Mesopotamia,"  in  Greek,  means  "between  the  two  rivers," 
Tigris  and  Euphrates;  and  it  is  used  not  only  of  the  Mesopotamia 
of  Bethuel  and  Laban,  but  is  applied  with  propriety  to  that  vast 
territory  that  lay  intermediate  "between  the  two  rivers";   dowii 


142  GENESIS 

to  their  confluence,  200  or  300  miles  S.  E.  of  the  country  of 
Babylon.  The  "Mesopotamia"  of  Bethuel  and  Laban  (ch.  24:  10) 
was  Haran,  or  Charran,  itself,  where  they  resided.  Besides 
which  Stephen  says  that  "Abraham,  went  forth  out  of  the  land 
of  the  Chaldeans  and  divelt  in  Charran."  (Acts  7:  4);  and  it  is 
well  known  that  "the  land  of  Chaldeans"  lay  from  400  to  600 
miles  to  the  S.  E.  of  Haran,  and  extended  as  far  as  the  junction 
of  the  two  rivers,  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates;  if  indeed  both 
rivers  did  not  at  that  time  empty  separately  into  the  Persian 
Gulf.  There  is  no  doubt  that  those  Biblical  maps  are  in  error 
which  locate  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  to  the  north  of  Haran.  It  was 
rather  (where  the  most  recent  maps  locate  it)  some  600  miles 
to  the  S.  E.  of  Haran;  200  miles  to  the  S.  E.  of  the  city  of 
Babylon,  on  the  southern  side  of  the  river  Euphrates;  and  which 
in  Abraham's  day  may  have  been  a  seaport;  if  maritime  com- 
merce in  fact  existed  in  the  times  of  Abraham:    see  p.  90. 

In  the  light  of  the  discoveries  of  recent  years,  there  is  no  rea- 
sonable doubt  that  this  was  the  city  of  the  birth  and  education 
of  Abraham;  called  "Uru"  in  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  there 
found,  and  represented  today  by  the  ruins  of  Mugheir,  whose 
remains,  recently  discovered,  attest  the  ancient  greatness,  riches 
and  power  of  the  place.  It  is  therefore  interesting  to  know,  that 
like  Moses,  Abraham  also  was  born  and  bred  in  a  rich,  cultured 
and  powerful  nation,  and  was  educated  in  the  midst  of  the 
luxury  and  the  highest  civilization  of  that  day.  The  city  of  Uru 
(or  Ur),  was  likewise  the  ancient  seat  of  the  worship  of  the  god 
Sin   (z=the  Moon);   represented,  however,  as  a  god  rather  than 


It  is  undeniable  that  Abraham  and  all  his  family  and  kindred 
were  idolators,  as  I  shall  show  in  the  following  chapter;  and  the 
Jews,  while  denying  this  in  respect  of  their  great  progenitor, 
Abraham,  affirm  with  respect  to  his  father  Terah,  that  he  was  not 
only  an  idolater,  but  a  manufacturer  of  idols;  and  they  relate 
many  stories  of  the  zeal  which  from  childhood  Abraham  dis- 
played against  idolatry,  and  of  the  way  in  which  he  broke  to 
pieces  and  mocked  at  the  idols  made  by  his  father.  In  the 
belief  of  the  Jews,  it  was  because  of  this  and  of  his  many  other 
pre-eminent  virtues,  that  Abraham  was  chosen  by  Jehovah,  and 
called  "the  friend  of  God,"  and  was  made  the  depository  of 
the  promises  and  hopes  of  the  human  family;  all  which  is  not 
only  characteristic  of  the  self-love  of  the  Jews  and  of  their 
devotion  to  their  own  righteousness  (which  was  the  cause  of 
their  rejection  of  Christ,  Rom.  10:  3),  but  it  is  also  contrary 
to    the    spirit    of    the    gospel    and    to    the    positive    teaching    of 


CHAPTER  12:  1—8  143 

the  word  of  God,  both  in  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament.    Rom. 
4:  1—8. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

VES.   1 — 8.      THE  SECOND   CALLING  OF   ABRAHAM.      THE  GREAT   PROMISE. 

CANAAN.     (From  1921  to  1920  b.  c.) 

1  Now  .Tehovah  said  unto  Abram,  Get  thee  out  of  thy  country, 
and  from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father's  house,  unto  the  land  that 
I  will  show  thee  : 

2  and  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation,  and  I  will  bless  thee, 
and  make  thy  name  great ;  and  be  thou  a  blessing : 

3  and  I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  him  that  curseth  thee 
will  I  curse :  and  in  thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed. 

4  So  Abram  went,  as  Jehovah  had  spoken  unto  him  ;  and  Lot  went 
with  him  :  and  Abram  was  seventy  and  five  years  old  when  he  departed 
out  of  Haran. 

5  And  Abram  took  Sarai  his  wife,  and  Lot  his  brother's  son,  and 
all  their  substance  that  they  had  gathered,  and  the  souls  that  they 
had  gotten  in  Haran ;  and  they  went  forth  to  go  into  the  land  of 
Canaan ;  and  into  the  land  of  Canaan  they  came. 

6  And  Abram  passed  through  the  land  unto  the  place  of  Shechem, 
unto  the  oak  of  Moreh.     And  the  Canaanite  was  then  in  the  land. 

7  And  Jehovah  appeared  unto  xVbram,  and  said.  Unto  thy  seed  will 
I  give  this  land  ;  and  there  builded  he  an  altar  unto  Jehovah,  who  ap- 
peared unto  him. 

8  And  he  removed  from  thence  unto  the  mountain  on  the  east  of 
Bethel,  and  pitched  his  tent,  having  Bethel  on  the  west  and  Ai  on 
the  east :  and  there  he  builded  an  altar  unto  Jehovah,  and  called 
upon  the  name  of  Jehovah. 

The  third  experiment  had  failed:  the  entire  race  had  again 
apostatized  from  God.  Job,  the  pious  and  patient  patriarch 
of  Uz,  belonged  to  a  distant  region,  and  also  to  a  past  genera- 
tion; if  we  may  judge  by  the  140  years  which  he  lived  after 
having  had  and  buried  three  daughters  and  seven  sons,  all  of 
these  married  and  with  homes  of  their  own  (Job  1:  2 — 4),  and 
also  if  we  compare  the  years  of  Job  with  the  175  years  of 
Abraham  and  the  180  of  his  son  Isaac.  With  regard  to  Mel- 
chisedek  (see  ch.  14:  18 — 20  and  comments),  it  is  so  little  that 
we  know  of  him,  surrounded  by  pagan  Canaanites,  that  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  make  him  an  exception.  The  line  of 
promise,  like  "the  sons  of  God"  of  the  times  before  the  flood, 
had  already  renounced  the  living  and  true  God;  and  this,  only 
400  years  after  that  terrible  and  exemplary  punishment  which 
God  had  visited  on  the  antediluvian  sinners.  Abram,  the  future 
"father  of  believers,"  was  an  idolater  (as  we  shall  see)  and 
was  bred  up,  as  the  Jews  affirm,  in  a  manufactory  of  idols. 
The  Jews  deny  that  he  was  himself  an  idolater;  but  the  word 
of  God  teaches  it  in  the  most  unequivocal  manner.  See  ch. 
SI:  53,  and  Josh.  24:  2,  14,  15.     "The  seed  of  the  Serpent"  had 


144  GENESIS 

about  made  an  end  of  the  "seed  of  the  Woman";  the  tares  had 
taken  possession  of  the  whole  field,  and,  as  in  the  days  of 
Noah,  the  wheat  could  hardly  be  anywhere  found.  See  the 
parable  of  the  Tares  of  the  field.  Matt.  13:  24—30;  36—43.  At 
such  a  rate  of  retrogression,  long  before  the  "fulness  of  the 
time,"  when  God  would  "send  forth  his  Son,"  and  indeed  within 
a  very  brief  space  of  time,  humanly  speaking,  all  knowledge 
of  God  would  be  completely  lost  from  the  world;  Satan  would 
definitely  triumph,  the  hopes  of  the  human  family  would  finally 
fail,  and  the  promises  of  God  be  falsified. 

Another  experiment,  therefore  (so  to  speak),  God  was  about 
to  make,  the  fourth  (see  pp.  87,  113,  140),  but  on  a  new  foot- 
ing, and  changing  completely  his  plan.  It  has  been  well  said 
that  the  confusion  of  tongues  at  the  tower  of  Babylon  was 
a  sort  of  Edict  of  Paganism  against  the  apostate  race,  separat- 
ing it  from  the  few  who  still  retained  the  knowledge  of  God:  — 
an  edict  which  remained  in  force  until  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
when,  with  the  gift  of  tongues,  there  seemed  to  be  a  formal 
abrogation  of  it,  in  order  to  give  prompt  effect  to  the  last  com- 
mand of  Jesus:  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature."  Mark  16:  15.  But  in  the  days  of 
Abram,  the  small  remnant  had  also  renounced  the  God  of  Noah, 
and  there  was  no  longer  one  human  language  on  earth  reserved 
for  his  glory  and  service. 

It  seems  to  me  that  formal  idolatry  was  a  manner  of  wicked- 
ness which  probably  began  after  the  flood.  The  antediluvians, 
according  to  the  few  notices  which  we  have  of  them,  instead  of 
being  idolaters,  were  rather  an  impious  set,  pure  atheists,  de- 
livered up  to  inordinate  sensual  passions,  to  violence,  oppres- 
sion, rapine  and  wickedness.  If  in  this  I  ami  right,  then  it  may 
be  said  that  as  the  Babylonish  captivity  cured  the  Jews  of 
formal  idolatry,  so  the  deluge  cured  the  race  of  outright  atheism: 
thenceforward  no  nation  or  people  has  professed  atheism,  except 
France  during  the  frenzied  excesses  of  its  revolution,  in  1792; 
and  the  results  then  renewed  the  violences  of  the  antediluvians. 
Men  at  last  knew  that  there  was  a  God,  and  that  his  indigna- 
tion was  something  to  be  feared.  The  subtilty  of  the  Serpent, 
therefore,  took  a  new  departure,  and  without  denying  God,  "they 
changed  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  for  the  likeness  of 
corruptible  man,  and  of  birds,  and  of  four  footed  beasts  and 
creeping  things"  (Rom.  1:  23);  and  here  we  find  that  Abraham 
himself  was  an  idolater,  and  his  father  Terah  (as  the  Jews 
say)  a  maker  of  idols.  The  Bible  proofs  that  Abraham  was 
an    idolater    when    God    called    and    drew    him    to    himself,   are 


CHAPTER  12:  1—8  14S 

very  clear  and  explicit: — Joshua,  when  he  was  about  to  die,  said 
to  all  the  people:  "Thus  saith  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel: 
Your  fathers  dwelt  of  old  time  beyond  the  River  (Euphrates), 
even  Terah  the  father  of  Abraham,  and  the  father  of  Nahor: 
atid  they  served  other  gods;  and  I  took  your  father  Abraham 
from  beyond  the  River,"  etc.  Josh.  24:  2,  3;  See  also  ch.  31:  53, 
where  Laban  invokes  for  witnesses  of  the  oath  which  he  had 
put  between  himself  and  Jacob,  the  ancient  gods  of  the  family: 
"The  gods  of  Abraham  and  the  gods  of  Nahor,  let  them  judge 
between  us!  the  gods  (likewise)  of  their  father"  (Modern 
Spanish  "Version).  These  false  gods  Abraham  had  renounced. 
As  therefore  the  title  "the  God  of  Abraham"  was  in  this  case 
equivocal,  since  Jacob  and  Laban  understood  it  In  opposite 
senses,  Jacob  did  not  wish  to  swear  by  him,  but  he  "swore  by 
the  Fear  of  his  father  Isaac."  In  the  Hebrew  text  the  subject 
and  the  verb  are  both  alike  in  the  plural  form,  in  all  three 
cases,  showing  thus  that  in  the  case  of  Abraham  it  was  "gods" 
that  he  served,  just  as  in  the  case  of  his  brother  and  his  father. 
Compare  with  this  what  Joshua  repeats  in  ch.  24:  14,  15,  in 
contrasting  the  gods  whom  the  forefathers  of  the  people  had 
served  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  Euphrates,  and  Jehovah, 
the  new  God  of  Abraham,  who  was  likewise  the  God  of  his  de- 
scendants, the  God  of  Israel.  "With  this  agree  the  words  of 
Nehemiah,  in  ch.  9:7,  8:  "Thou  art  Jehovah,  the  God  who 
didst  choose  Abram,  and  broughtest  him  forth  out  of  Ur  of 
the  Chaldees,  and  gavest  him  the  name  of  Abraham;  and  didst 
find  his  heart  faithful  before  thee,  and  madest  a  covenant  with 
him,"  etc. 

Of  this  new  God  of  Abraham,  Stephen  says:  "The  God  of 
glory  appeared  to  our  father  Abraham,  before  he  dwelt  in 
Charran;  and  he  said:  Get  thee  out  of  thy  land  and  from 
thy  kindred,  and  come  into  the  land  which  I  will  show  thee" 
(Acts  7:2,  3);  where  the  Greek,  following  the  familiar  form 
of  the  Hebrew,  says  "was  seen  to  Abraham,"  with  allusion,  no 
doubt,  to  some  visible  manifestation;  just  as  is  again  said  in 
vr.  7  of  this  section.  In  what  form  this  was  done,  or  whether 
it  was  done  under  any  form,  we  are  not  told;  it  was  probably 
done  with  some  sensible  manifestation  of  his  glory;  with  which 
Abraham  began  to  understand  the  distinction  there  was  between 
the  gods  of  wood  and  stone  and  the  only  true  God;  and  it  seems, 
according  as  I  understand  the  words  of  Stephen,  that  this  was 
sufficient  for  the  first  calling  of  Abraham,  without  giving  him 
any  promise  to  draw  him;  but  that  it  was  to  prove  his  obedience 
to  the  God  of  glory  who   had  thus   sensibly  appeared   to   him. 


146  GENESIS 

He  commanded  him,  therefore,  to  separate  himself  from  his 
family  and  from  his  native  country,  and  go  to  another  land 
which  he  would  show  him.  As  the  family  was  idolatrous,  the 
new  plan  which  God  adopted  with  the  fallen  race  required  in 
the  case  of  Abraham  entire  separation  from  his  people,  and 
from  the  uses  and  customs  of  his  fellow  countrymen.  The 
resolution  of  Terah,  not  only  to  accompany  him,  but  himself 
to  head  the  expedition,  put  in  peril  the  experiment  at  the  very 
outset.  But  his  detention  in  Haran  lent  another  aspect  to 
the  case.  It  seems  indubitable  that  Abram  sinned  in  not  con- 
tinuing the  journey  which  he  had  begun;  but  perhaps  he  yielded 
to  the  pleadings  of  his  people,  and  so  remained  with  them  until 
the  death  of  his  father.  Stephen,  in  Acts  7:  4,  says  that  "after 
the  death  of  his  father  God  removed  him  to  this  land" — Canaan. 
From  all  this  it  appears  evident  that  Abraham  had  two  callings; 
the  first,  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  the  second,  in  Haran,  after  the 
death  of  his  father.  Nehemiah  speaks  only  of  the  former,  but 
together  with  this  he  joins  all  the  promises  and  the  covenant. 
In  Heb.  11:  8,  Paul  speaks  of  only  one  calling,  which  evidently 
embraces  the  two.  The  calling  of  which  Moses  treats  in  Gen. 
12:  2 — 4,  comes  formally  after  the  death  of  Terah,  and  is  evi- 
dently the  repetition  of  the  first,  with  promises  and  amplifica- 
tions which  it  did  not  have,  compressing,  to  save  time  (as  is 
frequent  in  the  Bible)  the  substance  of  two  or  more  interviews 
into  this  one;  just  as  we  find  it  in  the  narrative  of  the  in- 
structions given  to  Noah  with  regard  to  the  flood  and  his  ark. 
See  Note  15,  p.  89.  The  same  thing  happens  here;  because 
Haran  was  not  "his  country,  nor  the  place  of  his  birth,"  which 
was  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  whence  they  had  together  gone  forth, 
some  years  before;— 'an  undeniable  proof  that  Moses,  like  Stephen, 
recognizes  the  first  calling,  which  came  to  him  in  the  place  of  his 
birth.  And  in  ch.  15:  7,  Jehovah  says  expressly  to  Abraham: 
"I  brought  thee  out  of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  to  give  thee  this  land  to 
inherit  it."  The  Hebrew  language  is  not  provided  with  moods 
like  our  own,  and  it  has  but  two  so-called  tenses,  the  "past" 
and  the  "future,"  or  more  properly  said,  "the  perfect  and  the 
imperfect" ;  and  in  translating  the  Hebrew  into  Spanish  (or 
English)  the  translator  himself,  has  to  graduate  these  two 
"tenses,"  to  suit  the  requirements  of  our  own  more  deli- 
cate and  refined  use;  which  has  at  least  four  forms  of  the 
present,  ten  or  twelve  of  the  past,  and  as  many  of  the  future. 
It  remains,  therefore,  with  the  translator  to  say:  "Jehovah 
said  to  Abraham  "  or  "had  said,"  according  as  he  regards  it  as 


CHAPTER  12:  1—8  147 

referring  to  the  first  calling,  or  to  the  second,  or  to  the  two, 
spoken  of  as  one. 

Nehemiah  says  (eh.  9:7,  8)  that  when  Jehovah  had  chosen 
Abraham  and  brought  him  forth  out  of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees, 
"thou  didst  find  his  heart  faithful;"  not  without  sin,  but  with- 
out any  duplicity,  sincere  and  steadfast.  How  important  is  this 
point!  a  thousand  times  more  important  is  this  deep  sincerity 
of  soul,  than  any  form  of  dreamed-of  sinless  perfection  in  this 
life!  and  all  the  subsequent  life  of  Abraham,  "the  father  of 
believers,"  bears  impressed  on  its  very  face  these  two  char- 
acteristic traits,  implicit  faith  and  instantaneous  oltedience;  and 
the  want  of  these  two  things  (which  are  in  fact  one  only),  is 
what  comes  to  vitiate  the  profession  of  a  multitude  of  persons 
who  regard  themselves  as  the  "children  of  believing  Abraham." 
Rom.  4:  10,  11;  Gal.  3:  9:  29.  What  Jesus  said  to  the  Jews 
has  like  application  in  the  case  of  Christians:  "If  ye  were 
the  children  of  Abraham,  ye  would  do  the  works  of  Abraham." 
John  8:  39.  Compare  what  Paul  says  about  himself,  in  Acts 
26:  19  and  Gal.  1:  15,  16.   How  precious  the  words:     "thou  didst 

FIND   HIS    HEABT   FAITHFUL!" 

In  the  days  of  Enosh  "began  the  usage  of  (the  godly)  calling 
themselves  by  the  name  of  Jehovah"  (ch.  4:  26),  as  his  people; 
but  in  the  family  of  Abraham,  including  all  his  circumcised  en- 
campment, this  people  began  now  to  form  a  "church"*  or  "con- 
gregation" of  believers,  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world 
by  a  distinctive  rite;  of  which  Paul  says  in  Rom.  4:  11 — 17 
that  "Abraham  received  the  sign  of  circumcision  as  a  seal  of 
the  righteousness  of  the  faith  which  he  had  in  uncircumcision, 
that  he  might  be  the  father  of  all  believers,"  whether  circumcised 
or  uncircumcised.  And  to  the  promise  that  God  would  make  of 
him  a  great  nation,  he  adds  the  greater  promise  of  making  his 
name  great,  and  constituting  him  a  blessing  to  all  nations; 
blessing  those  that  blessed  him,  and  cursing  those  that  cursed 
him;  and  causing  that  all  the  families  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed  in  him.  All  this  was  said  to  him  in  Haran,  after  the 
death  of  his  father.     Of  "the  covenant"  we  have  heard  nothing 

•In  the  Greek  Version  of  the  LXX  (In  common  use  in  the  days  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  and  from  which  are  generally  taken  the  quotations 
from  the  Old  Testament  found  in  the  New),  the  Hebrew  word  edah 
which  in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version  is  translated  "assembly,"  and  qahal, 
which  is  translated  "congregation,"  are  indistinctively  translated  either 
"synagogue"  or  "church;" — words  which  are  quite  as  common  in  the 
Version  of  the  LXX  as  in  the  Xew  Testament ;  occurring  about  265  times. 
In  agreement  with  this,  in  the  New  Testament  also  the  "congregation  of 
Israel"  is  called  "the  church"  in  Acts  7 :  38 ;  and  a  Christian  church  is 
called   a   "synagogue"    in   James   2 : 2. 


148  GENESIS 

since  the  time  of  Koah;  but  the  correlative  of  the  covenant, 
to  wit,  "the  promise,"  takes  now  a  vast  breadth,  with  a  clear- 
ness of  expression  and  precision  of  meaning  which  it  never 
before  had.  The  primordial  promise  of  the  "Seed  of  the  Woman" 
develops  now  into  "exceeding  great  and  precious  promises," 
whose  full  accomplishment  we  are  still  awaiting  with  anxious 
desire:  "And  in  thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed."  In  these  words  we.  Christians,  can  with  much  clear- 
ness see  Christ,  together  with  that  immense  train  of  temporal 
blessings  which  Christian  lands  now  enjoy  (although  the  greater 
part  of  their  inhabitants  reject  the  friendship  and  government 
of  the  God  of  Abraham),  and  those  spiritual  blessings  which 
the  people  of  God  now  enjoy  on  earth  and  in  heaven;  together 
with  those  greater  and  eternal  blessings  which  his  redeemed 
people  shall  enjoy  in  the  coming  Age,  "the  world  without  end," 
not  only  as  individuals,  but  in  their  collective  capacity,  as  "the 
nations  (of  the  redeemed)  who  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem."     Rev.  21:  24. 

This  great  promise,  thus  enlarged  and  extended,  came  then 
to  locate  itself  definitely  in  the  family  of  Abraham.  As  after 
repeated  and  varied  experiments,  made  with  the  fallen  race,  it  had 
repeatedly  and  resolutely  declared  itself  against  God,  God  now 
rejects  it  deliberately,  and  confines  his  attentions  and  his  future 
experiments  (to  avail  myself  of  this  convenient  expression,  a 
favorite  one  with  the  late  Dr.  J.  Addison  Alexander,  of  Prince- 
ton Seminary),  to  the  family  of  that  renowned  man,  whom  he 
honored  with  the  title  of  "the  friend  of  God."  James  2:  23. 
The  Apostle  Paul  well  explains  this  procedure  of  God  with  the 
pagan  world,  in  these  words:  "And  even  as  they  refused  to 
have  God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  up  unto  a  repro- 
bate mind  to  do  those  things  which  are  not  fitting."    Rom.  1:  28. 

At  this  date,  Abram  was  75  years  old  and  Sarai,  his  wife, 
65;  being  ten  years  younger  than  he.  Ch.  17:  17.  "With  his 
habitual  promptness  to  do  whatever  his  new  God  commanded, 
Abram  took  Sarai  his  wife  and  his  nephew  Lot,  and  all  the 
goods  and  the  souls,  or  persons,  they  had  acquired  there  (where 
they  may  have  passed  ten  years)  and  leaving  his  brother 
Nahor  in  Haran  (called  afterwards  "the  city  of  Nahor,"  ch. 
24:  10),  "they  went  forth  to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  where 
they  arrived"  in  due  time; —  a  journey  of  400  or  500  miles. 
He  then  passed  through  the  land,  going  from  north  to  south, 
until  he  reached  Shechem,  the  region  which  was  then,  as  it  is 
now,  the  most  beautiful  and  fertile  part  of  Canaan.  There  prob- 
ably, near  to  Shechem,  was  the  oak-grove  of  Moreh.     "The  oak," 


CHAPTER  12:  1—8  .  149 

Bays  the  Hebrew;  but  as  a  single  oak  could  not  serve  for  the 
encampment  of  1,500  people,  the  word  doubtless  represents  a 
grove  of  oaks;  in  the  same  way  that  "Abraham  pitched  his 
tent"  (vr.  8,  and  elsewhere),  means  in  Hebrew  to  say,  "pitched 
his  tents,"  or  established  the  encampment  of  his  numerous 
people.  *  "Moreh"  was  probably  the  name  of  some  principal 
man  from  whom  the  wood  took  name;  as  we  read  in  the  fol- 
lowing chapter,  vr.  18,  of  "the  oaks,  or  oak  grove,  of  Mamre, 
near  to  Hebron,";  Mamre  being  the  name  of  the  ally  and 
associate  of  Abralham.     Ch.  13:  18;  14:  13—24. 

There  Jehovah  appeared  to  him  again,  and  said  to  him:  "To 
thee  will  I  give  this  land.  And  he  builded  there  an  altar  to 
Jehovah  who  had  appeared  to  him"  (Heb.  was  seen  to  him).  It 
was  thenceforward  the  use  and  custom  of  this  great  servant  and 
"friend  of  God,"  to  pitch  his  tent,  erect  his  altar,  and  invoke 
In  solemn  worship  (he  and  his  people)  the  name  of  Jehovah. 
The  altar  near  the  tent  Is  the  type  of  patriarchal  piety,  worthy 
of  the  zealous  imitation  of  all  the  spiritual  children  of  Abraham. 
From  thence,  with  the  object  of  knowing  the  land  which  Jehovah 
his  God  had  given  him,  he  passed  towards  the  mountain  range 
on  the  east  of  Bethel,  having  Bethel  on  the  west,  and  Ai  on 
the  east;  famous  afterwards  in  the  wars  of  Joshua.  Josh.  Ch.  7. 
The  principal  mountain  range  of  the  country  passes  there  to 
the  east  of  Bethel.  It  is  not  said  that  he  encamped  on  the  moun- 
tain, as  our  Bibles  would  naturally  give  us  to  understand. 
The  Hebrew  word  means  mount,  mountain,  hill  country,  moun- 
tainous region,  or  mountain  range,  as  the  case  may  be.  Here 
the  text  says  "he  went  toward  the  mountain,"  or  mountain 
range;  which,  in  fact,  passes  at  a  little  distance  to  the  east 
of  Bethel.  Robinson,  in  his  Biblical  Researches,  describes  the 
location.  Vol.  2,  p.  314.  There  also  he  built  an  altar  and  called 
upon  the  name  of  Jehovah — a  phrase  which  always  indicates  the 
public  worship  of  all  his  encampment. 

The  declaration  in  verse  6  "that  the  Canaanite  was  then  in 
the  land,"  signifies  two  things:  1st,  That  formerly  these  races  of 
Canaanites  had  not  been  there,  and  that  their  occupation  of  that 
land  was  of  comparatively  recent  date;  and  2nd,  that  the 
Canaanite — not     one     tribe     in     particular,     but     the     descend- 

•It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  our  translators,  both  English  and 
Spanish,  say  in  vr.  8,  and  elsewhere,  Ahram  "pitched  his  tent,"  as  though 
he  were  a  solitary  traveler ;  knowing  full  well  that  he  had  with  him  not 
less  than  1200  or  1500  people  (see  ch.  14  :  14,  and  comments),  overlooking 
the  fact  that  the  translator's  office  is  to  put  the  mind  of  the  reader  in 
easj'  and  satisfactory  communication  with  that  of  the  writer.  The  Modern 
Spanish   Version   renders   it:   "pitched  his   fenis"  — his  encampment. — Tr. 


150  GENESIS 

ants  of  Canaan  in  general  (ch.  10:  15 — 20),  was  in  actual  posses- 
sion of  that  land,  of  which  Jehovah  said  to  Abram:  "To  thee 
will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee." 

12:  9 — 20.      EGYPT,   WHERE  TO  PROTECT  HIS   OWN   LIFE,   ABRAM  DENIES 

HIS  WIFE.     (1920  or  1919  b.  c.) 

9     And  Abram  journeyed,  going  on  still  toward  the  South. 

10  And  there  was  a  famine  in  the  land :  and  Abram  went  down 
into  Egypt  to  sojourn  there ;  for  the  famine  was  sore  in  the  land. 

11  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  was  come  near  to  enter  into 
Egypt,  that  he  said  unto  Sarai  his  wife,  Behold  now,  1  know  that 
thou  art  a  fair  woman  to  look  upon  : 

12  and  it  will  come  to  pass,  when  the  Egyptians  shall  see  thee, 
that  they  will  say.  This  is  his  wife :  and  they  will  kill  me,  but  they 
will  save  thee  alive. 

13  Say,  I  pray  thee,  thou  art  my  sister ;  that  it  may  be  well  with 
me  for  thy  sake,  aud  that  my  soul  may  live  because  of  thee. 

14  And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  when  Abram  was  come  into  Egypt, 
the  Egyptians  beheld  the  woman  that  she  was  very  fail-. 

15  And  the  princes  of  Pharaoh  saw  her,  and  praised  her  to 
Pharaoh  :  and  the  woman  was  taken  into  Pharaoh's  house, 

16  And  he  dealt  well  with  Abram  for  her  sake  :  and  he  had  sheep, 
and  oxen,  and  he-asses,  and  men-servants,  and  maid-servants,  and  she- 
asses,  and  camels. 

17  And  Jehovah  plagued  Pharaoh  and  his  house  with  great 
plagues  because  of  Sarai,  Abram's  wife. 

18  And  Pharaoh  called  Abram,  and  said.  What  is  this  that  thou 
hast  done  unto  me?  why  didst  thou  not  tell  me  that  she  was  thy 
wife? 

19  why  saidst  thou,  She  is  my  sister,  so  that  I  took  her  to  be  my 
wife?  now  therefore  behold  thy  wife,  take  her,  and  go  thy  way. 

20  And  Pliaraoh  gave  men  charge  concerning  him :  and  they 
brought  him  on  the  way,  and  his  wife,  and  all  that  he  had. 

Pursuing  his  journey,  traveling  towards  the  South  (not  one 
of  the  cardinal  points,  but  a  region  of  that  name,  to  the  south 
of  the  country,  called  Negeb  in  Hebrew,  ch.  13:  1),  on  account 
of  a  famine  which  he  found  prevailing  there,  Abram  went  for- 
ward as  far  as  Egypt,  to  sojourn  there.  It  was  natural  that 
Abram,  a  Chaldean  by  birth,  and  acquainted  with  Babylon, 
should  have  a  curiosity  to  see  Egypt,  which  rivaled  it  in  riches, 
civilization  and  glory.  Far  better  would  it  have  been  for  him 
to  retrace  his  steps,  and  go  to  the  north  again,  rather  than 
expose  himself  to  the  power  of  the  Pharaohs,  powerful,  despotic 
and  unscrupulous,  who  reigned  there.  "Pharaoh"  in  the  Bible 
is  the  royal  title  of  the  sovereigns  of  Egypt,  and  not  the  name 
of  any  particular  individual  king.  When  he  entered  Egypt, 
Abram  perceived  the  danger  he  was  running  on  account  of 
the  extreme  beauty  of  his  wife,  and  availed  himself  of  a  shame- 
ful subterfuge  to  guard  against  it.  Sarai  must  have  been  at 
this  time  some  65  years  of  age,  being  ten  years  younger  than 
Abram;    and   as   she   had   never   been   a   mother   and   was   wel.' 


CHAPTER  12:  9—20  151 

cared  for,  and  as  the  men  and  women  of  those  days  lived  to  double 
the  age  they  now  do  (she  died,  prematurely,  at  the  age  of 
127,  while  Abraham  attained  to  175),  it  is  probable  that  she 
had  all  the  attractions  of  a  beautiful  woman  of  30  in  our 
own  day.  Her  fair  complexion  also,  and  the  fine  color  that 
set  off  her  beauty,  would  make  her  the  object  of  no  small 
admiration  to  the  swarthy  Egyptians.  It  seems  that  at  that 
time  the  women  of  Egypt  were  not  shut  up,  nor  veiled,  as 
has  been  the  usage  of  the  Oriental  women  for  a  long  time  past; 
or  if  not,  Sarai  must  have  been  very  indiscreet  to  exhibit 
herself  as  she  did  in  public.  See  vrs.  14,  15,  also  ch.  20:  16, 
and  comments.  It  is  likewise  to  be  noted  that  Abram  did  not 
go  into  Egypt  as  a  private  individual,  but  rather  as  an  Arab 
prince,  rich,  and  with  great  accompaniment;  otherwise  he  would 
not  have  attracted  as  he  did  the  attention  of  the  princes  of 
Pharaoh  and  of  himself;  who  being  pleased  with  the  beauty  of 
the  woman,  took  her  to  his  palace;  and  instead  of  killing  Abram 
on  account  of  his  wife,  he  treated  him  well,  on  account  of  his 
supposed  sister. 

It  is  wholly  impossible  to  defend,  or  even  to  excuse,  the 
conduct  of  Abram  on  this  occasion;  and  the  Bible  reveals  it  in 
all  its  moral  deformity.  Notwithstanding  this,  it  is  but  just  to 
remember  that  our  Christian  ideas  of  morality,  and  of  the  purity 
and  honor  of  women,  were  totally  unknown  to  the  world  of 
that  day.  Abram  himself  was  but  a  novice  in  the  ways  of  the 
true  God,  and  he  knew  almost  nothing  of  his  holiness,  his  power, 
his  righteousness  and  his  fidelity.  He  had  been  educated  in  the 
midst  of  the  idolatries  and  other  abominations  of  the  Chaldeans 
and  the  Babylonians,  where  the  honor  and  purity  of  women 
was  held  in  light  esteem,  or,  rather,  were  deliberately  sacrificed 
upon  the  altars  of  their  impure  goddesses;  in  Canaan  he  was 
surrounded  by  people  who  were  little  if  any  better;  and  there, 
in  Egypt,  the  case  was,  if  possible,  ev^en  worse.  His  new  God 
had  hardly  begun  to  give  to  him  and  to  the  people  of  his  en- 
campment lessons  in  the  true  religion,  in  order  to  give  to 
the  world,  in  him  and  his  descendants,  the  lost  knowledge  of 
God,  and  to  work  out  in  this  apostate  world  the  ideas  and 
forms  of  good  morals,  personal  purity  and  true  holiness,  which 
we  enjoy,  and  which  in  our  day,  are  being  diffused  abroad  in  all 
the  earth. 

It  is  certain  that  what  he  said  about  his  wife  was  not  an 
absolute  falsehood,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  comments  on  ch. 
20:  12;  but  it  was  not  on  this  account  less  than  a  falsehood; 
and  when  he  put  his  foot  into  that  net  of  deception,  he  little 


152  GENESIS 

suspected  where  it  was  going  to  lead  him;  as  usually  happens 
when  for  motives  of  convenience  we  turn  aside  from  the  strict 
path  of  truth  and  well  doing.  But  on  the  other  hand,  let  us 
guard  against  false  inferences.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
Sarai  had  been  yet  received  as  the  wife,  or  concubine,  of  the 
king.  She  was  endangered,  but  not  dishonored.  The  "house 
of  Pharaoh,"  whither  Sarai  was  carried,  was  not  like  a  house 
of  our  own,  nor  even  like  a  European  palace,  but  it  rather 
embraced  an  immensity  of  space,  walled  in  and  separated,  with 
a  multitude  of  structures  for  hundreds  of  offices,  and  thousands 
of  persons.  "The  house  of  Joseph,"  where  passed  all  that  his- 
tory of  himself  and  his  brothers,  as  related  in  chs.  42 — 45,  was 
part  of  "the  house  of  Pharaoh."  See  ch.  45:  2.  In  the  book 
of  Esther  (ch.  2)  we  have  a  particular  notice  of  the  long 
preparations  that  were  used  with  women,  before  they  were 
admitted  to  the  private  apartments  of  the  king,  either  as  wives 
or  as  concubines.  And  Jehovah,  who  a  little  while  after,  "smote 
Pharaoh  with  great  plagues,  both  him  and  his  household,  on 
account  of  Sarai,  the  wife  of  Abram,"  would  not  have  deferred 
his  interposition,  until  it  was  too  late,  in  order  to  protect  her 
honor  and  her  person.  When  again,  with  even  greater  blame- 
worthiness, Abram  exposed  her  to  the  same  danger,  in  the 
house  of  Abimelech,  king  of  the  Philistines,  Jehovah  did  not 
permit  Abimelech  to  touch  her  (ch.  20:  6);  without  any  doubt, 
then,  he  guarded  her  well  while  she  was  in  "the  house  of  Pha- 
•  raoh." 

In  spite  of  this  grievous  error  on  the  part  of  Abram,  and  in 
spite  of  his  little  confidence  in  the  divine  protection,  his  God 
did  not  deprive  him  of  it,  but  protected  the  person  of  Sarai,  and 
smote  Pharaoh  and  all  his  house  with  such  plagues,  that  the 
king  well  understood  for  whose  cause  that  had  happened.  Call- 
ing therefore  Abram,  he  chided  him  for  his  conduct,  he  restored 
to  him  his  wife,  he  gave  orders  to  his  men  of  war  respecting 
him,  and  dismissed  him  with  all  that  was  his;  giving  him  a 
suitable  accompaniment  of  soldiers,  until  he  had  passed  out 
of  the  country.  Having  gone  to  Egypt  on  account  of  the  famine 
that  was  in  "the  South,"  and  God  having  interposed  a  prompt 
resistance  to  the  purpose  the  king  had  formed  of  taking  for 
his  own  the  wife  of  Abram,  it  is  natural  that  he  should  not  have 
passed  more  than  a  few  months  there. 

One  must  be  as  signally  lacking  in  good  faith  as  in  the  gift 
of  sound  interpretation,  to  infer  from  the  words  of  vr.  16 — 
"and  he  dealt  well  with  Abram  for  her  sake;  and  he  had  sheep, 
and   oxen,   and    he-asses,    and    men-servants    and    maid-servants, 


CHAPTER   13:  1—4  153 

and  she-asses  and  camels" — that  Pharaoh  enriched  him  at  the 
cost  of  his  wife's  honor.  Abram  entered  Egypt  as  a  prince, 
and  as  a  prince  he  went  out  of  Egypt.  At  his  coming,  "he  had 
flocks,  and  herds,  and  he-asses,  and  men-servants,  and  maid-ser- 
vants, and  she-asses,  and  camels";  and  if,  when  he  went  out, 
"silver  and  gold" — more  useful  and  current  in  Egypt  than  in 
Haran — are  mentioned  in  addition  to  these  (ch.  13:  2),  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that,  with  the  favor  of  the  king,  and  regarded 
as  his  brother-in-law,  he  should  have  increased  his  riches  in 
Egypt,  already  great  and  with  a  large  accompaniment  of  de- 
pendents and  servants  of  his  own.  But  to  say  that  he  accepted 
these  things  as  gifts  from  Pharaoh  in  exchange  for  his  own 
dishonor,  is  a  proof  either  of  much  ignorance  or  of  much 
malignity.  The  man  who,  but  a  short  time  after  that,  could 
draw  forth  from  his  own  encampment  318  trained  soldiers,  his 
own  servants,  "born  in  his  house"  (ch.  13:  14),  with  which  to 
attack  four  kings,  heavily  laden  with  booty,  had  no  need  of 
gifts  from  Pharaoh  (nor  does  the  Bible  say  that  Pharaoh  made 
him  any  gifts) ;  and  that  magnanimous  man,  who,  when  he  re- 
turned victorious  from  the  slaughter  of  those  kings,  and  the  king 
of  Sodom  said  to  him:  "Give  me  the  persons  and  take  the 
goods  for  thyself,"  with  rare  nobility  of  spirit  restored  to  him 
the  whole  of  the  prey,  together  with  the  persons,  saying:  "I 
have  lifted  up  my  hand  to  Jehovah,  God  Most  High,  Possessor 
of  heaven  and  earth,  (protesting)  that  I  will  not  take  a  thread 
nor  a  shoe  latchet,  nor  aught  that  is  thine,  lest  thou  shouldst 
say  "7  have  made  Ahram  rich"  (ch.  14:  21 — 23),  certainly  was 
not  the  man  to  make  merchandise  of  the  honor  of  his  wife.  God 
took  charge  of  the  prosperity  of  his  servant,  whom  he  had  so 
recently  called  to  himself,  and  of  the  honor  of  his  wife;  and 
he  went  up  out  of  Egypt,  with  all  his  people  and  all  that  was 
his. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

VRS.    1 — 4.       ABEAM    EETUENS    TO    THE    LAND    OF    CANAAN.       (1919    Or 

1918  B.  c.) 

1  And  Abram  went  up  out  of  Egypt,  he,  and  his  wife,  and  all  that 
he  had,  and  Lot  with  him,   into  the  South. 

2  And  Abram  was  very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver,  and  in  gold. 

3  And  he  went  on  his  journeys  from  the  South  even  to  Bethel, 
nnto  the  place  where  his  tent  had  been  at  the  beginning,  between 
Bethel  and  Ai, 

4  unto  the  place  of  the  altar,  which  he  had  made  there  at  the  first : 
and  there  Abram  called  on  the  name  of  Jehovah. 

Abram,  dismissed  from  Egypt,  undoubtedly  with  the  displeas- 


154  GENESIS 

ure  of  the  king,  and  guarded  by  his  soldiers  until  he  had  safely 
passed  the  frontier,  went  up  into  the  South  country,  as  the 
southern  part  of  Canaan  was  called;  so  that  he  "tcent  up" 
thither,  going  from  the  low  lands  of  Egypt  to  the  hill  country 
of  Canaan,  (Deut.  1:  7),  and  at  the  same  time  traveling  north- 
ward, or  rather  N.  E.;  carrying  with  him  his  wife  and  all 
his  possessions,  and  his  nephew  Lot,  with  all  his,  which  were 
not  small.  And  moving  his  encampment  from  point  to  point, 
traveling  with  their  numerous  herds  and  flocks,  they  arrived 
at  last  at  Bethel,  his  old  camping  ground,  between  Bethel  and 
Ai,  where  was  still  his  altar;  and  there  he  called  upon  the  name 
of  Jehovah. 

13:  5 — 13.       LOT    SEP  ABATES    FROM    ABEAM.       HIS    WOELDLY    ELECTION. 
(1918    (?)    B.    C.) 

5  And  Lot  also,  who  went  with  Abram,  had  flocks,  and  herds,  and 
tents. 

6  And  the  land  was  not  able  to  bear  them,  that  they  might  dwell 
together :  for  their  substance  was  great,  so  that  they  could  not  dwell 
together. 

7  And  there  was  a  strife  between  the  herdsmen  of  Abram's  cattle 
and  the  herdsmen  of  Lot's  cattle :  and  the  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite 
dwelt  then  in  the  land. 

8  And  Abram  said  unto  Lot,  Let  there  be  no  strife,  I  pray  thee, 
between  me  and  thee,  and  between  my  herdsmen  and  thy  herdsmen ; 
for  we  are  brethren. 

9  Is  not  the  whole  land  before  thee?  separate  thyself,  I  pray  thee, 
from  me:  if  thou  tvilt  take  the  left  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  right; 
or,  if  thou  take  the  right  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  left. 

10  And  Lot  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  beheld  all  the  Plain  of  the 
Jordan,  that  it  was  well  watered  every  wliere,  before  Jehovah  de- 
stroyed Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  like  the  garden  of  Jehovah,  like  the 
land'  of  Egypt,  as  thou  goest  unto  Zoar. 

11  So  Lot  chose  him  all  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan ;  and  Lot  jour- 
neyed east :  and  they  separated  themselves  the  one  from  the  other. 

12  Abram  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  Lot  dwelt  in  the  cities 
of  the  Plain,  and  moved  his  tent  as  far  as  Sodom. 

13  Now  the  men  of  Sodom  were  wicked  and  sinners  against  Jeho- 
vah exceedingly. 

It  was  the  declared  purpose  of  God  to  separate  Abram  from 
all  his  kindred,  in  order  to  educate  him  and  his  in  the  knowl- 
edge and  obedience  of  Jehovah,  whom  he  had  only  begun  to 
know  as  his  God.  Terah's  resolution  to  accompany  him  would 
have  frustrated  this  purpose;  but  "Terah  died  in  Haran,"  and 
Abram,  leaving  his  brother  Nahor  in  Haran,  went  forward  into 
Canaan,  for  which  he  had  started  perhaps  ten  years  before. 
Lot  accompanied  him;  and  a  worldly  spirit  like  his,  with  his 
separate  and  large  encampment,  imbued,  doubtless,  with  the 
spirit  of  its  chief,  and  over  which  Abram  could  not  exercise 
due  authority,  or  perhaps  none  at  all,  did  not  help  forward  the 


CHAPTER  13:  5—13  155 

divine  purpose.  But  as  the  dilatory  and  fickle  spirit  of  Terah 
detained  him  in  Haran,  so  that  he  never  arrived  in  Canaan,  thus 
the  worldly  spirit  of  Lot  separated  him  from  Abram's  side; 
and  this  same  devotion  of  Lot  to  his  worldly  interests  came  to 
be  his  ruin. 

It  is  clear  that  at  that  time  the  land  of  Canaan  was  in  great 
part  unoccupied.  As  it  was  reputed  to  be  among  the  best  of  known 
countries,  it  is  undeniable  that  we  have  here  a  convincing 
proof  that  the  deluge,  at  no  very  remote  period,  had  left  that 
"glory  of  all  lands"  (Ezek.  20:  6)  empty  and  depopulated,  and 
that  it  had  only  begun  to  be  somewhat  peopled  again.  Four 
hundred  years  later  (Gen.  15:  13 — 16),  the  land  was  occupied 
by  "seven  nations  greater  and  stronger"  than  the  Israelites 
(Deut.  7:7),  who  then  had  possession  of  it.  But  at  this  time, 
Abram  and  Lot,  with  their  immense  nomadic  encampments, 
went  about  with  all  liberty,  "towards  the  north,  and  towards 
the  south,  and  towards  the  east,  and  towards  the  west"  (vr.  14), 
without  anybody's  making  account  of  it.  In  fact,  Abram  said 
to  Lot  that  the  whole  land  was  before  him,  to  choose  freely  and 
at  his  pleasure  the  part  which  he  liked  best.     Vr.  9. 

But  while  the  land  was  plenty  wide  for  Abram  and  the  Canaan- 
ites,  it  seems  that  it  was  not  enough  so  for  Lot  and  his  herds- 
men to  live  in  peace  and  good  fellowship  with  Abram  and  his 
people;  and  when  the  latter  could  no  longer  suffer  the  con- 
tentions of  the  herdsmen  of  their  respective  encampments — con- 
tentions which  "the  Canaanite  and  the  Perrizite"  saw  with  sur- 
prise, and  perhaps  with  satisfaction, — Abram  himself  at  last  pro- 
posed that  the  two  should  separate.  And  so  the  temporal 
blessings  of  God  were  converted  for  the  worldly  Lot  into  a 
positive  curse.  Sad  day  it  was  for  him  in  which,  to  increase 
his  worldly  estate,  he  separated  from  the  tent  and  altar  of  his 
uncle,  whom  God  had  made  the  depository  of  the  promises!  It 
seems  evident  from  the  expostulation  of  Abram,  that  the  rela- 
tions were  becoming  strained  not  only  between  the  herdsmen  of 
the  two,  but  between  the  masters  as  well:  "Let  there  be  no 
strife,  I  pray  thee,  between  vie  and  thee,  and  between  my  herds- 
men and  thy  herdsmen;  for  we  are  brethren."  Ch.  13:  8.  Abram, 
always  magnanimous,  manifests  here  the  incomparable  supe- 
riority of  his  character,  as  contrasted  with  that  of  Lot.  He  was 
the  elder,  and  was  the  prospective  owner  of  all,  by  positive  dona- 
tion from  God;  yet  he  left  to  his  nephew  the  liberty  of  choosing 
lands  at  his  pleasure,  he  being  satisfied  to  take  the  part  which 
Lot  did  not  want.  The  Psalmist  has  said:  "7  am  a  companion 
of  all  them  that  fear  thee,  and  of  them  that  keep  thy  precepts" 


156  GENESIS 

(Ps.  119:  63); — a  sentiment  which  Lot  so  lightly  regarded,  that, 
in  an  evil  hour  for  himself  he  separated  from  the  company 
of  the  only  man  in  all  the  land  (or  all  the  earth?)  who  feared 
God  and  kept  his  precepts;  and  found  that  it  was  more  con- 
genial to  associate  with  the  most  reprobate  of  those  pagan 
peoples,  than  to  live  in  harmony  and  peace  with  his  pious  uncle, 
in  whom  all  the  families  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed. 

Poor  Lot!  From  the  elevated  mountain  range,  where  the  two 
stood,  to  the  east  of  Bethel,  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  surveyed  the 
land  spread  out  around  them,  and,  fixing  his  gaze  on  the  Plain 
of  the  Jordan,  which  in  his  eyes  gleamed  like  a  jewel,  with  its 
semi-tropical  climate,  away  yonder,  4000  feet  below  them,  fertile 
as  the  land  of  Egypt,  whence  they  had  just  come,  beautiful  "as 
the  garden  of  Jehovah" — the  Eden  of  our  first  parents;  instead 
of  modestly  insisting  that  Abram,  being  the  older,  should  choose 
first,  and  without  even  asking  his  advice,  he  selfishly  improved 
his  opportunity,  made  a  bad  choice,  and,  enchanted  with  the 
view,  he  said  in  effect:  "I  go  yonder;  there  is  the  land  I 
choose  for  myself!"  and  leaving  his  uncle  upon  those  high  lands, 
he  made  haste  to  go  down  with  his  flocks  and  herds  and 
his  numerous  retinue  of  servants,  and  dwelt  among  the  Cities  of 
the  Plain;  and  kept  on  moving  his  encampment  (vr.  5.  Heb.  his 
tent)  till  he  came  to  Sodom;  where  he  took  a  house  and,  as  it 
would  seem,  a  wife  also.  The  text  gives  us  to  understand  that 
he  moved  his  encampment  about  from  place  to  place  in  that 
superbly  beautiful  Plain,  before  he  took  the  final  resolution  to 
make  his  home  in  Sodom.  Impressive  is  the  comment  which 
the  historian  makes  upon  his  ill-advised  election:  "But  the 
men  of  Sodom  were  wicked  and  sinners  against  Jehovah  exceed- 
ingly." Very  numerous  is  the  lineage  of  Lot,  who  still  follow 
his  footsteps  in  crowds.  Lot  left  his  flocks  and  herds  amid  the 
succulent  pastures  of  the  Plain;  but  he  himself,  abandoning  the 
pure  and  simple  customs  of  pastoral  life,  exchanged  them  for 
the  soft  and  effeminate  life  of  those  semi-tropical  cities,  delivered 
up  to  the  most  detestable  vices.  "This  was  the  iniquity  of 
Sodom:  pride,  fulness  of  bread,  and  prosperous  ease;  *  * 
neither  did  she  strengthen  the  hand  of  the  poor  and  the  needy." 
Ezek.  6:  49. 

[Note  20. — On  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan,  the  Vale  of  Siddim, 
and  the  Cities  of  the  Plain.  Until  a  recent  date  it  was  univer- 
sally believed,  and  from  times  immemorial,  that  the  Vale  of 
Siddim  (=plains,  or  fields),  and  the  Cities  of  the  Plain  were 
situated  in  the  southern  part  of  what  is  now  the  Dead  Sea,  and 
also  on  the  plain  which  extends  eight  or  ten  miles  still  farther  to 


CHAPTER  13:  5—13  157 

the  south;  and  that  the  "Plain  of  Jordan"  not  only  reached  to 
the  Sea  of  Sodom  (a  name  which  I  use  preferentially,  because 
it  was  not  then  a  Dead  Sea),  but  in  some  way  it  embraced  it, 
at  least  on  one  side,  and  extended  to  the  south  of  it;  so  that  "the 
Plain"  was  all  one,  whether  of  the  Jordan  or  of  the  sea,  there 
being  easy  communication  between  the  north  and  south  of  it. 
But  some  scientific  Englishmen,  and  notably  Lieut.  Conder,  and 
other  agents  of  the  "Palestine  Exploration  Fund,"  have  done  their 
utmost  to  discredit  this  ancient  belief,  and  to  locate  the  Vale 
of  Siddim  with  the  five  cities  of  the  Plain  all  to  the  north  or 
N.  E.  of  the  Sea  of  Sodom;  where  some  recent  maps  locate  them 
with  an  interrogation  point,  as  an  indication  of  doubt.  But  I 
believe  that  their  efforts  will  prove  in  vain  to  destroy  the  old 
opinion,  founded,  not  only  on  the  uniform  belief  of  Jews,  Chris- 
tians and  Mohammedans,  but  on  Holy  Scripture  itself,  and  on  au- 
thentic secular  history  as  well.  For  the  convenience  of  the  reader, 
I  will  make  this  Note  to  embrace  at  one  view  the  consideration  of 
the  "Plain  of  Jordan"  (ch.  13:  10,  11;  1  Kings  7:  46),  the  "Cities 
of  the  Plain"  (ch.  13:  12;  19:  29),  and  the  "Vale  of  Siddim"  (ch. 
14:  3,  8,  10),  in  order  to  save  time  and  space,  on  account  of  the 
difficulty  of  considering  them  separately. 

The  Biblical  arguments  offered  in  favor  of  this  recent  opinion 
seem  to  be:  1st.  That  the  "Cities  of  the  Plain"  ought  to  be 
located  in  the  "Plain  of  the  Jordan."  But  this  is  a  gratuitous 
assumption;  the  Bible  always  distinguishes  between  the  two  ex- 
pressions, and  never  says  that  the  cities  were  of  the  "Plain  of 
the  Jordan"  but  only  of  "the  Plain."  See  ch.  19:  17,  25,  28;  com- 
pare ch.  13:  10,  11,  12.  In  Hebrew  the  word  kikkar  {:=  circuit,  or 
surroundings)  which  we  translate  "plain,"  is  exclusively  used  of 
this  region  of  the  Jordan  and  of  the  Sea  of  Sodom,  except  once, 
when  it  refers  to  surrotmdings  (R.  V.  "plain")  of  Jerusalem 
(Neh.  12:  28),  and  the  word  is  as  applicable  to  the  "surround- 
ings" or  "circuit"  of  the  sea,  as  to  the  "surroundings"  or 
"circuit"  of  the  Jordan;  Gesenius  translates  it  "the  tract  of  the 
Jordan."  We  know  from  1  Kings  7:  46  (R.  V.),  that  this  name 
("the  plain  of  the  Jordan")  was  given  to  the  valley  of  the 
Jordan,  25  miles  in  a  direct  line  to  the  north  of  the  Salt  or  Dead 
Sea,  between  Succoth  and  Zerethan,  at  the  brass-foundries  of 
King  Solomon;  and  this  use  of  the  word  extended  to  its  mouth, 
where  it  empties  into  the  sea.  But  in  the  days  of  Lot,  "the  Plain" 
did  not  stop  at  the  north  of  the  sea;  it  continued  in  all  its  course, 
and  even  beyond  that.  2nd.  Another  argument  which  is  pre- 
sented with  great  confidence  is,  that  (according  to  ch.  13:  10), 
from  the  top  of  the  mountain  chain  near  to  Bethel,  Lot  could 


158  GENESIS 

"lift  up  his  eyes  and  see  all  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan"  as  far  as 
Zoar,  if  we  locate  it  at  the  north  of  the  sea,  but  not,  if  at  the 
south.  The  record,  however,  does  not  say  that  Lot  could  see  as 
far  as  Zoar,  but  that  "he  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  saw  all  the 
plain  of  the  Jordan,  that  it  was  all  well  watered,  etc.,  as  thou 
goest  unto  Zoar."  The  words  indicate  the  direction  in  which 
"thou  goest,"  and  not  the  point  to  which  the  sight  of  Lot 
reached.  This  singular  phrase,  used  only  six  times  in  the  Bible, 
(ch.  10:19,  twice;  10:30;  13:10;  25:18;  and  1  Sam.  15:7) 
seems  to  indicate  always  the  going  in  the  direction  of  the  point 
indicated.  3rd.  With  the  same  confidence  they  cite  Deut.  34:  4, 
where  it  is  said  that  from  the  top  of  Pisgah,  on  the  east  of  the 
Jordan,  before  Jericho,  Jehovah  caused  Moses  to  see  all  the  land 
of  promise  from  east  to  west  and  from  north  to  south,  "unto 
Zoar";  and  it  is  argued  that  if  Zoar  was  at  the  foot  of  Pisgah, 
(where  they  wish  to  locate  it,  to  the  north  of  the  sea),  Mosea 
could  see  it  perfectly,  whereas  if  it  were  at  the  south  of  the 
sea,  the  mountains  of  Moab  would  completely  intercept  the  view. 
The  error  here  is  the  same  as  in  the  former  case;  it  is  not  said 
that  Moses  could  see  Zoar,  any  more  than  Lot;  but  "unto  Zoar" 
indicates  the  southern  limit,  or  south-eastern,  of  the  prospect 
which  the  vision  of  the  dying  prophet  embraced.  Compare  "unto 
Dan"  (which  did  not  then  even  exist.  Judges  18:  29)  in  vr,  1  of 
the  same  passage: — "Unto  Dan"  on  the  north,  and  "unto  Zoar" 
on  the  south. 
Some  of  the  reasons  against  this  new  opinion  are: 
1st.  That  ch.  14:  3  says  of  the  Vale  of  Siddim  (where  was 
fought  the  battle  of  the  four  kings  against  the  five,  and  where 
the  "Cities  of  the  Plain"  were  apparently  located)  "the  same 
IS  THE  SALT  sea";  and  that  the  newly  proposed  location  is 
not,  and  never  was.  The  Salt  Sea,  or  Dead  Sea,  is  45  miles 
long  by  101^  wide;  its  surface  is  1,300  feet  below  the  level  of 
the  ocean,  and  it  is  skirted  on  both  sides  by  mountain  ranges 
which  rise  precipitately  from  its  edge  1,500  to  2,500  feet  high; 
the  river  Jordan  entering  on  the  north,  and  losing  its  fresh 
waters  in  those  of  the  sea,  which  are  of  bitter  and  intolerable 
saltness.  In  its  northern  part,  and  in  two-thirds  of  its  length,  the 
sea  is  from  1,100  to  1,300  feet  deep,  and  the  other  third,  towards 
the  south,  is  very  shallow,  nowhere  exceeding  ordinarily  twelve 
or  fifteen  feet  in  depth,  and  in  years  of  drought  it  is  fordable 
in  many  parts  by  caravans  of  camels,  and  even  of  loaded  asses, 
which  cross  from  the  peninsula  of  Lisan  to  the  eastern  shore. 
It  is  believed,  and  it  has  always  been  believed,  that  in  this 
part  and  in  the  plain  to  the  south  of  the  sea,  were  situated  the 


CHAPTER  13:  5—13  159 

Vale  of  Siddim  and  the  Cities  of  the  Plain— a  district  some 
25  miles  long  by  10  or  12  broad.  In  this  view  of  the  case,  it  waa 
very  proper  that  Moses  should  write,  "tJie  Yale  of  Siddim,  which 
is  the  Salt  Sea:'  With  regard  to  the  northern  part,  from  1,000 
to  1,300  feet  deep,  this  could  never  be  said.  To  this  it  is  re- 
plied that  Moses  did  not  write  it  thus;  that  verse  3  formed  no 
part  of  the  original  writing.  See  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible, 
Article  "Siddim."  But  this  is  a  sheer  assumption.  In  the  days 
of  Moses,  400  years  after  Lot,  this  place  bore  the  name  of  the 
"Salt  Sea"  (see  Num.  34:  3,  12;  Deut.  3:  17),  which  formerly  it 
did  not  have;  so  that  Moses  was  as  competent  as  any  subsequent 
writer  to  add  to  his  history  the  explanatory  note  that  what  had 
formerly  been  the  "Vale  of  Siddim"  was  then  "the  Salt  Sea." 

2nd.  Ch.  14:  10  informs  us  that  "the  Vale  of  Siddim  waa 
full  of  slime  pits,"  or  pits  of  bitumen.  These  pits  have  entirely 
disappeared,  due  probably  to  the  conflagration  in  the  days  of 
Lot;  for  there  still  are  found  great  quantities  of  bitumen  in  the 
hottom  of  the  sea,  in  its  southern  part,  where  it  is  believed  that 
the  Vale  of  Siddim  and  the  Cities  of  the  Plain  were  situated. 
Dr.  Robinson  says  that  at  different  epochs,  chiefly  after  earth- 
quakes, the  Arabs  make  a  lucrative  commerce  in  the  bitumen 
they  gather  at  the  southern  end  of  the  sea;  where  it  occasionally 
detaches  itself  from  the  bottom  and  floats  on  the  surface  of 
the  waters.  "After  the  earthquake  of  1837,  a  large  mass  of 
bitumen  (one  said,  like  an  island,  another,  like  a  house)  was 
discovered  floating  on  the  sea,  and  was  driven  aground  on  the 
west  side,"  "where  the  people  swam  to  it  and  cut  it  in  pieces  with 
axes,  so  as  to  bring  it  ashore;"  and  it  was  sold  at  a  valuation  of 
several  thousand  dollars.  The  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  also 
were  acquainted  with  this  peculiarity  of  the  sea,  and  named  it 
Asphaltites,  or  Asphaltic  Lake.  Dr.  Robinson  adds  that  this 
occurs  only  in  the  southern  part,  and  never  on  the  northern 
part,  as  far  as  he  could  inform  himself  from  the  Arabs.  The 
asphalt  is  not  found,  he  says,  to  the  north  of  the  sea,  in  the 
plains  of  Jericho,  nor  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan;  which  appears 
plainly  to  indicate  that  the  Vale  of  Siddim,  with  its  five  cities, 
was  not  situated  there.  Robinson's  Bihlical  Researches,  Vol.  2  pp. 
228—230  and  603—605. 

3rd.  Zoar  was  saved  from  the  common  destruction  at  the 
petition  of  Lot,  and  was  in  plain  view  of  Sodom,  being  so  near, 
that  Lot  and  his  two  daughters  could  pass  from  the  one  to  the 
other  between  day-break  and  the  rising  of  the  sun.  Ch.  19:  15, 
20,  23.  Well  then,  Zoar  continued  to  be  a  historic  place,  and  well 
known  under  that  name,  for  the  space  of  3,300  years,  and  wag 


160  GENESIS 

not  lost  to  sight,  as  a  place  of  some  importance  until  after  the 
14th  century  of  the  Christian  Era.  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  both 
speak  of  it  as  belonging  to  the  territory  of  Moab  (Isa.  15:  5; 
Jer.  48:  34);  and  Moab  had  for  its  northern  boundary  the  river 
Arnon,  which  fell  into  the  Salt  Sea  at  about  midway  of  its  length, 
opposite  Engedi.  It  is  therefore  morally  certain  that,  as  Zoar 
was  a  part  of  Moab,  it  could  not  he  situated  to  the  north  of  the 
sea,  25  or  30  miles  from  the  northern  boundary  of  Moab. 

4th.  Zoar  is  called  Segor  in  the  Greek  translation  of  the  LXX, 
and  in  the  Latin  Vulgate  and  the  Roman  Catholic  translations 
made  from  the  latter,  and  is  called  Zoghar  by  the  Arabs  till  this 
day;  it  is  mentioned  by  Josephus  in  the  first  century,  by  Ptolemy 
in  the  second  century,  by  the  fathers  of  the  Church  in  the 
fourth  and  fifth  centuries;  and  Jerome  who  describes  its  situation 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  range,  says  that  it  was  then  a  place 
of  importance  with  a  Roman  garrison  and  many  inhabitants; 
and  that  it  was  the  key  to  that  mountain  range  to  the  east  and 
S.  E.  of  the  Dead  Sea.  It  is  also  mentioned  by  the  Arab  and 
Saracenic  historians,  and  by  the  historians  of  the  Crusades; 
and  we  have  a  detailed  account  of  the  route  pursued  by  King 
Baldwin  I.,  in  the  year  1100,  on  going  from  Hebron  to  Zoar, 
passing  to  the  south  of  the  sea,  and  finding  it  at  the  entrance 
of  the  mountains  on  the  eastern  side.  With  such  an  accumula- 
tion of  data  as  Robinson  gives  at  great  length  in  his  Biblical 
Researches  (Vol.  2,  pp.  480,  etc.;  601,  etc.;  648,  661),  it  seems 
to  me  that  it  is  as  arduous  an  enterprise  as  it  is  useless,  to 
attempt  to  establish  the  new  opinion. 

5th.  The  history  of  the  expedition  of  Chedolaomar  and  his 
associates,  which  we  have  in  ch.  14:  1 — 12,  establishes  the  same 
fact;  because  the  kings  came  from  the  north  in  quest  of  the  five 
kings  of  these  cities,  who  had  rebelled  against  him.  As  they 
came  from  the  north,  they  would  pass  very  near  the  cities  if 
they  were  to  the  north  of  the  sea.  It  is  inconceivable,  therefore, 
how,  in  that  case,  they  should  pass  on  50  or  60  miles  farther  to 
the  south,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  sea,  and  then  doubling  to  the 
south  of  it,  go  up  on  the  west  side  as  far  as  Engedi,  and  descend 
1,500  feet  to  the  sea  itself,  by  the  terrible  defile  of  Hazazon-tamar, 
or  Engedi,  in  order  to  find  themselves  there  25  or  SO  miles  to 
the  south  of  the  kings  and  the  cities  they  came  to  subdue!  The 
supposition  is  simply  impossible.  The  public  and  ordinary  road, 
then  as  now,  crossed  the  Jordan  on  the  north  of  the  sea,  in  the 
vicinity  of  what  was,  at  a  later  date,  Jericho.  There  is  where 
they  ought  to  have  sought  them,  if  they  were  to  the  north  of 
the  sea.     But  it  is  very  natural,  in  the  supposition  that  the  cities 


CHAPTER    13:  14—18  161 

and  the  Vale  of  Siddim  were  at  the  southern  part  of  the  sea, 
that  they  should  go  around  on  the  south  of  the  sea,  reducing  to 
subjection  the  tribes  or  peoples  that  might  lend  aid  to  those 
in  insurrection,  in  order  to  fall  suddenly  upon  them  by  the 
difficult  defile  of  Engedi,  which  then  had,  as  it  now  has,  easy 
communication  with  the  south  and  southeast  of  the  sea.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  say  that  the  catastrophe  of  Sodom  and  the  other 
Cities  of  the  Plain  must  have  produced  great  and  disastrous 
changes  in  the  topography  of  that  region;  comparable  before  that 
with  the  garden  of  Eden,  but  now  a  frightful  ruin. 

Of  course  Lot  could  not  see  all  this  stretch  of  river  and  sea 
from  the  top  of  the  mountain  range  to  the  east  of  Bethel  (comp. 
vr.  3  with  ch.  12:  8);  but  Dr.  Edward  Robinson,  the  most  care- 
ful and  laborious  of  investigators,  and  whose  .work  is  still  con- 
sidered a  first  authority,  says:  "It  seems  to  be  a  necessary 
conclusion  that  the  Dead  Sea  anciently  covered  a  less  extent 
of  surface  than  at  present.  The  cities  which  were  destroyed  must 
have  been  situated  on  the  south  of  the  lake  as  it  then  existed." 
"The  fertile  Plain,  therefore,  which  Lot  chose  for  himself,  where 
Sodom  was  situated,  and  which  was  well  watered,  like  the  land  of 
Egypt,  lay  also  south  of  the  lake,  'as  thou  comest  unto  Zoar.' 
Even  to  the  present  day,  more  living  streams  flow  into  the 
Ghor  at  the  south  end  of  the  sea,  from  wadys  of  the  eastern 
mountains,  than  are  to  be  found  so  near  together  in  all  Pales- 
tine; and  the  tract,  although  mostly  desert,  is  still  better  watered, 
through  these  streams,  and  by  the  many  fountains,  than  any 
other  district  throughout  the  whole  country."  Biblical  Re- 
searches.    Vol.  2,  pp.  602,  603.] 

13:  14 — 18.  APTEB  THE  SEPARATION  OF  LOT  FROM  ABBAM,  GOD 
REPEATS  WITH  AMPLIFICATIONS  THE  PROMISE  ALREADY  GIVEN  TO 
HIS    SERVANT.       (1917   D.   C.) 

14  And  .Tchovah  said  nnto  Abram,  after  that  Lot  was  separated 
from  him,  Lift  up  now  tlnne  eyes,  and  look  from  the  place  where 
thou  art,  northward  and  southward  and  eastward  and  westward  : 

15  for  all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to 
thv  seed  for  evor, 

16  And  I  will  make  thy  seed  as  the  dust  of  the  earth  :  so  that  if 
a  man  can  number  the  dust  of  the  earth,  then  may  thy  seed  also  be 
numbered. 

17  Arise,  walk  through  the  land  in  the  length  of  it  and  in  the 
breadth  of  it :  for  unto  thee  will  I  give  it. 

18  And  Abram  moved  his  tent,  and  came  and  dwelt  by  the  oaks  of 
Mamre,  which  are  in  Hebron,  and  built  there  an  altar  unto  Jehovah. 

As  if  by  way  of  recompense  for  his  noble  unselfishness,  and  to 
five  him  a  signal  manifestation  of  the  divine  approval,  scarcely 
Lad  Lot  separated  from  his  company  and  society,  when  Jehovah 


162  GENESIS 

anew  repeated  to  Abram  the  promise  already  given,  and  with 
notable  additions.  From  the  top  of  the  same  elevated  range 
where  Lot  allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  away  after  worldly  good, 
Jehovah  told  Abram  to  lift  up  his  eyes  towards  the  four  car- 
dinal points,  and  said  to  him:  "All  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to 
thee  will  I  give  it  and  to  thy  seed  forever."  He  promised  him 
also  that  his  seed  should  be  numerous,  or  better  said,  that  it 
should  he  innumerable,  as  the  sand  of  the  sea;  and  bade  him,  as 
the  lord  of  all,  to  walk  through  the  length  of  it  and  the  breadth 
of  it,  regarding  it  as  his  own,  which  his  God  had  given  him  with 
irrevocable  titles. 

The  form  and  particularity  and  the  constant  repetition  of  this 
donation  of  that  land  to  Abraham  and  to  his  seed  "forever  and 
ever"  (Feb.  "from  eternity  to  eternity,"  and  so  rendered  in 
Isaac  Leeser's  Jewish  Version)  as  Jeremiah  twice  repeats  it,  in 
chs.  7:  7  and  25:  5,  give  us  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  chil- 
dren of  Abraham,  so  long  dispossessed  of  the  land  which  is  their 
own  by  special  donation  of  Him  who  is  Maker  and  Lord  of  all, 
shall  some  day  return  into  their  own  possession,  in  spite  of  the 
greatest  opposition  which  their  enemies,  and  their  false  friends 
may  Interpose.  "If  any  of  thine  outcasts  be  driven  out  unto  the 
outmost  parts  of  heaven,  from  thence  will  Jehovah  thy  God 
gather  thee,  and  from  thence  will  he  fetch  thee;  and  Jehovah 
thy  God  will  bring  thee  into  the  land  which  thy  fathers  possessed, 
and  thou  shalt  possess  it;  and  he  will  do  thee  good,  and  multiply 
thee  above  thy  fathers."     Deut.  30:  4,  5. 

What  possible  fulfilment  this  promise  may  have  yonder,  in  the 
"New  Heavens  and  the  New  Earth,"  in  relation  to  the  Jews,  as 
one  of  "the  nations"  of  the  redeemed  and  saved,  when  "the 
leaves  of  the  tree  of  life  shall  be  for  the  healing  of  the  nations'' 
(Rev.  21:  24;  22:  2),  we  shall  see  when  the  time  arrives  and 
"the  day  of  redemption"  dawns;  which  the  Lord,  according  to 
his  promise,  "will  hasten  in  his  time,"  and  not  ours.  Isa.  60:  22. 
But  there  are  many  very  clear  and  express  promises  of  the 
restoration  of  Israel; — a  restoration  which  is  to  be  forever  (Rom, 
11:  23—29;  Luke  21:  24;  Hos.  3:4,  5;  Lev.  26:  40—45;  Jer. 
7:7;  31:  35 — 40) ;  and  which  the  Lord  doubtless  will  fulfil  in  his 
own  time  and  way. 

The  Bible  ideal  of  that  "eternal  salvation,"  of  which  the  risen 
Christ  "has  become  the  Author,  to  all  them  that  obey  him" 
(Heb.  5:  9), — the  "salvation  ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last 
time,"  "at  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ"  (1  Pet.  1:  5 — 7),  is 
unquestionably  that  of  renewed  souls,  reunited  with  renewed 
BODIES,  and  dwelling  in  a  renewed  world.     See  Greek  of  Heb, 


CHAPTER  14:  1—12  163 

2:  5, — "the  inhabited  earth,  the  one  that  is  to  he";  of  which 
Paul  says  (for  I  make  no  doubt  that  he  was  the  author  of  this 
Epistle)  that  Christians  were  always  speaking; — he  himself  had 
made  no  previous  reference  to  the  subject;  and  Peter  says  that 
he  and  his  fellow  believers  were  "looking  for  it,  according  to 
His  promise."  2  Pet.  3:  13.  And  Paul  says  again,  for  it  was 
often  on  his  lips,  that  he  also  "waited  for  it"  with  vehement 
desire,  and  the  whole  groaning  creation  (cursed  for  man's  sin) 
as  well.  Rom.  8:  22,  23.  There  is  therefore  at  least  a  possibility 
that,  in  a  sense  we  cannot  now  clearly  comprehend,  Abraham 
may  yet  dwell  at  home  in  the  land  in  which  he  lived  and  died 
"a  stranger."*  Stephen  says  that  God  promised  "that  he  would 
give  it  to  him  for  a  possession,  and  to  his  seed  after  him,  when 
as  yet  he  had  no  child."    Acts  7:  5. 

We  do  not  know  how  many  journeys  Abram  would  make  in 
viewing  this  his  God-given  land;  but  he  continued  to  move  his 
encampment  {Heb.  his  tent  =:r  his  tents),  until  he  came  and  dwelt 
in  the  oak  grove  of  Mamre  (who,  together  with  his  two  brothers 
Eschol  and  Aner,  were  allies  of  Abraham,  ch.  14:  13 — 24),  near 
Hebron;  a  favorite  place  of  residence  for  the  patriarch;  and 
as  always,  "he  builded  there  an  altar  to  Jehovah."  Oh  magnan- 
imous and  faithful  man! 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

VES.    1 — 12.      THE   COALITION   OF   THE   KINGS.      LOT  IS   TAKEN    CAPTIVE. 
(1903    B.    C.) 

1  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  days  of  Amraphel  king  of  Shinar, 
Arioch  king  of  Ellasar,  Chedorlaomer  king  of  Elam,  and  Tidal  king 
of  Goiim.* 

2  that  they  made  war  with  Bera  king  of  Sodom,  and  with  Birsha 
king  of  Gomorrah,  Shinab  king  of  Admah.  and  Shemeber  king  of 
Zeboim,  and  the  king  of  Bela  (the  same  is  Zoar). 

3  All  these  joined  together  in  the  vale  of  Siddim  (the  same  is  the 
Salt  Sea). 

*0r.  Nations. 
•Calvin  closes  his  comment  on  Matt.  5 : 5  with  the  statement  that 
"at  the  resurrection  the  meek  icill  he  put  into  everlasting  inheritance  of 
the  earth."  In  his  Institutes,  he  cites  "the  example  of  Jacob,  who  to 
testify  to  his  posterity  that  the  hope  of  the  promised  land  did  not  forsake 
his  heart  even  in  death,  commands  his  bones  to  be  reconveyed  thither. 
Book  III,  Ch.  25,  Sec.  8.  And  in  this  chapter,  as  well  as  in  the  ninth  of 
this  Book,  he  teaches  with  every  possible  form  of  reiteration,  that  "Ood 
will  restore  the  loorld,  now  fallen,  into  perfection."  Luther  abounds  In 
the  same  representation  of  Christ's  coming  kingdom  of  righteousness  and 
life  eternal.  John  Knox  likewise,  and  Samuel  Rutherford.  See  also 
Richid  Baxter's  Saint's  Everlasting  Rest,  Ch.  3,  on  the  Preparatives 
for  the  Saints'  Promised  Rest,  and  Chalmer's  famous  sermon  on  The  New 
Heavens  and  the  New  Earth. — Tr. 


164  GENESIS 

4  Twelve  years  they  served  Chedorlaomer,  and  in  the  thirteenth 
year  they  rebelled. 

5  And  in  the  fourteenth  year  came  Chedorlaomer,  and  the  kings 
that  were  with  him,  and  smote  the  Rephaim  in  Ashteroth-karnaim,  and 
the  Zuzim  in  Ham,  and  the  Emim  in  Shaveh-kiriathaim, 

6  and  the  Horites  in  their  mount  Seir,  unto  Elparan,  which  is  by 
the  wilderness. 

7  And  they  returned,  and  came  to  En-mishpat  (the  same  is 
Kadesli),  and  smote  all  the  country  of  the  Amalekites,  and  also  the 
Amorites,  that  dwelt  in  Hazazon-tamar. 

8  And  there  went  out  the  king  of  Sodom,  and  the  king  of  Gomor- 
rah, and  the  king  of  Admah,  and  the  king  of  Zeboim,  and  the  king 
of  Bela  (tlie  same  is  Zoar)  ;  and  they  set  the  battle  in  array  against 
them  in  the  vale  of  Siddim ; 

9  against  Chedorlaomer  king  of  Elam,  and  Tidal  king  of  Goiim, 
and  Amraphel  king  of  Shinar,  and  Arioch  king  of  Ellasar ;  four  kings 
against  the  five. 

10  Now  the  vale  of  Siddim  was  full  of  slime  pits ;  and  the  kings 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  fled,  and  they  fell  there,  and  they  that  re- 
mained fled  to  the  mountain. 

11  And  they  took  all  the  goods  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  all 
their  victuals,  and  went  their  way. ' 

12  And  they  took  Lot,  Abram's  brother's  son,  who  dwelt  in  Sodom, 
and  his  goods,  and  departed. 

In  former  times  infidels  laughed  at  such  a  coalition  of  Oriental 
kings,  and  their  invasion  of  lands  a  thousand  or  twelve  hundred 
miles  distant  from  their  own.  But  in  our  day  the  monuments 
of  Assyria  and  Babylon  (as  also  those  of  Egypt),  with  their 
inscriptions  and  paintings,  come  to  accredit  in  the  most  surpris- 
ing manner  the  Bible  history.  Those  peoples  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates,  faithful  to  the  traditions  of  Nimrod,  the  first  founder 
of  empires,  extended  their  conquests  as  far  as  the  coasts  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  But  it  was  not  Amraphel  the  king  of  Shinar, 
or  Babylon,  who  led  this  expedition,  but  rather  Chedorlaomer  king 
of  Elam,  the  ancient  Persia.  And  this  is  in  surprising  agree- 
ment with  the  ancient  inscriptions  of  Assyria,  and  those  found 
in  El  Mugheir  (=Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  the  ancient  city  of  Abram 
and  his  father  Terah),  which  frequently  speak  of  a  powerful  line 
of  kings  of  Elam,  one  of  whom  extended  his  empire  from  the 
south  of  Chaldea  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea  (whose  name,  Kurdur- 
mabuk,  resembles  not  a  little  this  of  Genesis) :  his  empire  ex- 
tended 500  miles  from  north  to  south  and  more  than  1,000  miles 
from  east  to  west.  Geike's  Hours  ivitJi  the  Bible.  Vol.  1,  pp.  286, 
287. 

The  city  of  Nimrod  apparently  suffered  a  terrible  blow  at  the 
epoch  of  the  confusion  of  tongues,  so  that  they  not  only  desisted 
from  their  enterprise  of  the  tower,  but,  as  is  said  in  Gen.  11:  8^ 
"they  ceased  to  build  the  city"  as  well;  which  for  a  long  time 
remained  a  place  of  secondary  importance.  It  is  therefore  a 
remarkable  coincidence,  which  confirms  in  a  wonderful  way  the 


CHAPTER  14:  1—12  165 

veracity  and  minute  accuracy  of  the  Biblical  history,  that  Moses 
should  represent  the  king  of  Elam  as  he  who  commanded  in 
this  campaign,  and  that  the  other  kings  (including  the  king 
of  Shinar,  or  Babylon),  should  be  represented  as  associates,  or 
vassals,  who  united  with  him  to  recover  the  dominion  which 
fourteen  years  before  he  had  established  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 

On  account  of  the  impassable  character  of  the  desert  of  Arabia, 
or  Syria,  which  lies  interposed  between  Babylon  and  Canaan, 
they  had  to  make  a  long  detour  of  more  than  a  thousand  miles, 
going  first  N.  W.,  to  the  fords  of  the  Euphrates,  and  then  S.  W., 
subduing  by  the  way  Hamath  and  Damascus;  and  then,  passing 
down  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan  and  the  Salt  Sea,  they  went  around 
the  latter  to  the  south,  subduing  in  their  route  the  Rephaim, 
the  Zuzim,  the  Emim — reputed  to  be  giants  (Deut.  2:  10,  11)  — 
and  the  Horites,  in  what  was  afterwards  the  mountain  country 
of  Seir,  or  Edom,  to  the  south  of  the  Salt  Sea,  until  they  arrived 
at  El  Paran  (where  the  Israelites,  coming  up  out  of  Egypt, 
stopped  a  long  while,  and  from  whence  they  sent  the  explorers 
to  reconnoitre  the  land.  Num.  10:  12,  16;  13:  3) ;  desolating  what 
was  afterwards  the  country  of  the  Amalakites,  and  next  subduing 
the  Amorites  who  dwelt  in  the  hill  country  to  the  south  of 
Hebron;  and  then  penetrating  through  the  rocky  defile  of  Hazon- 
tamar  to  Engedi  (2  Chron.  20:  2);  they  gave  battle  "in  the  Vale 
of  Siddim  (which  is  the  Salt  Sea),"  where  the  five  kings  of 
Sodom,  Gomorrah,  Admah,  Zeboim  and  Zoar  had  combined  their 
forces  for  defence  against  the  common  enemy.  We  are  informed, 
in  passing,  that  the  Vale  of  Siddim  was  "full  of  slime  pits,"  or 
pits  of  bitumen;  a  circumstance  which  is  of  great  interest  to  us 
when  we  come  to  consider  the  catastrophe  of  Sodom;  but  we 
do  not  see  that  it  has  anything  to  do  with  this  history,  unless  it 
give  us  to  understand  that  these  pits  of  bitumen  had  some  con- 
nection with  the  defeat  of  the  king  of  Sodom  and  his  allies,  owing 
perhaps,  to  this  peculiarity  of  the  field  of  battle.  The  five  kings 
"fell  there"  (which  probably  means  that  they  died  there),  and 
the  remnants  of  their  army  took  refuge  in  the  mountains;  which 
to  the  east  and  west  inclose  the  sea  in  all  its  length. 

The  four  explanatory  parentheses  which  we  have  in  this  para- 
graph, and  one  more  which  occurs  in  vr.  17,  may  indicate  that 
this  chapter  was  an  ancient  document,  already  so  old  in  the 
days  of  Moses  that  the  names  of  several  of  the  places  mentioned 
called  for  explanations.  The  "Vale  of  Siddim"  in  the  days  of 
Moses  had  been  converted  into  the  "Salt  Sea";  "Bela"  was  then 
called  "Zoar";  "En-mishpat"  was  in  the  days  of  Moses  "Kadesh," 
well  known  by  that  name  when  the  children  of  Israel  came  up, 


166  GENESIS 

out  of  Egypt.  Num.  13:  20;  20:  1,  14,  16,  22.  It  seems  therefore 
probable  that  Moses  did  not  write  the  antiquated  form,  and  then 
add  by  way  of  explanation  the  name  universally  known  in  his 
day.  But  the  parenthesis  of  vr.  17  is  different  from  the  others, 
and  marks  the  interposition  of  a  hand  much  later  than  the  days 
of  Moses:  the  "Vale  of  Shaveh  (which  is  the  King's  Vale)."  It 
was  there,  900  years  later,  that  the  unhappy  Absalom  erected  a 
pillar  to  his  own  memory,  saying:  "I  have  no  son  to  preserve  the 
memory  of  my  name."  2  Sam.  18:  18.  It  is  very  important  that 
the  reader  should  bear  in  mind  that  though  Moses  was  un- 
doubtedly the  author  of  the  books  of  the  Bible,  which  bear  his 
name,  to  which  fact  Jesus  himself  gives  his  solemn  attestation 
(John  5:  45,  47),  nevertheless  his  books,  like  some  other  books 
of  the  Bible,  bear  unmistakable  indications  of  explanations  and 
additions  made  many  ages  after  the  death  of  the  author;  as  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  note  farther  on,  just  as  In  this  case. 

Of  the  allied  kings  associated  with  Chedorlaomer,  there  are 
two,  Arioch  king  of  Ellasar,  and  Tidal  king  of  Nations  (or  of 
Goyim)  of  whom,  or  rather,  of  whose  peoples,  we  can  give  no 
account.  Ellasar  is  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  same  as  Sarsa 
In  lower  Babylon,  called  now  Senkereh.  "King  of  nations"  is  a 
title  which  we  meet  with  in  the  list  of  the  thirty-one  kings  of 
Canaan  subdued  by  Joshua;  Josh.  12:  23,  with  a  probable  allusion 
to  the  mixture  of  races,  or  nations,  from  whom  "Galilee  of  the 
Nations"  took  name.  Isa.  9:1;  Matt.  4:  15,  16.  It  is  possible 
that  Tidal  was  one  of  these  kings  who  had  been  subdued  by 
Chedorlaomer  fourteen  years  before,  who  had  remained  faithful 
to  him  when  the  five  kings  of  the  Cities  of  the  Plain  rebelled, 
and  that,  in  passing  by,  the  king  of  Elam  brought  him  with 
his  other  vassals  to  the  war.  Others  understand  that  "Goiim," 
or  Goyim  (=  nations)  was  some  people  of  the  Orient,  whose  king 
Chedorlaomer  brought  with  him. 

14:  13 — 16.     ABEAM  GOES  OUT  TO  wab;   defeats  the  four  kings; 

LIBERATE3    LOT   AND   THE  OTHER  CAPTIVES;    AND   RECOVERS    ALL   THE 
PREY.      (1913  B.  C.) 

13  And  there  came  one  that  had  escaped,  and  told  Abram  the 
Hebrew:  now  he  dwelt  by  the  oaks  of  Mamre,  the  Amorite,  brother 
of  Eshcol,  and  brother  of  Aner;  and  these  were  confederate  with 
Abram. 

14  And  when  Abram  heard  that  his  brother  was  taken  captive,  he 
led  forth  his  trained  men,  born  in  his  house,  three  hundred  and 
eighteen,  and  pursued  as  far  as  Dan. 

15  And  he  divided  himself  against  them  by  night,  he  and  his  ser- 
vants, and  smote  them,  and  pursued  them  unto  Hobah,  which  is  on  the 
left  hand*  of  Damascus. 

•Or.  north. 


CHAPTER  14:  17—24  167 

16  And  he  brought  back  all  the  goods,  and  also  brought  back  his 
brother  Lot,  and  his  goods,  and  the  women  also,  and  the  people. 

Some  one  who  escaped  carried  to  the  encampment  of  Abram 
intelligence  of  the  war,  and  of  the  captivity  of  Lot.  Abram, 
with  that  lofty  spirit  of  decision  and  prompt  action  whicli  char- 
acterized him,  had  hardly  received  the  sad  tidings  of  his  nephew 
when  he  armed  and  drew  forth,  from  among  his  servants,  skilled 
in  the  use  of  arms  (for  the  defence  of  his  encampment)  318 
soldiers,  all  young  men  (vr.  24),  and  went  out  to  war.  He  took 
with  him  three  Amorite  princes,  allies  of  his,  and  all  brothers, 
Vr.  24.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  how  this  "friend  of  God,"  with- 
out compromising  in  any  degree  his  character  and  conscience, 
held  relations  of  friendship  with  these  pagans,  among  whom  he 
lived;  and  with  these  three  brothers,  Mamre,  Aner  and  Eshcol 
he  had  an  offensive  and  defensive  treaty.  With  this  force  he 
followed  after  the  invading  army,  which  went  homewards,  flushed 
with  victory,  conscious  of  security  and  loaded  with  the  immense 
booty  they  had  captured;  and  overtaking  them  in  the  north  of 
Canaan,  at  the  place  that  was  afterwards  called  Dan,  near  to  the 
waters  of  Merom,  he  divided  his  forces,  and  falling  upon  them 
by  night,  defeated  them  completely,  and  pursued  them  with  the 
sword  as  far  as  Hobah,  to  the  north  of  Damascus.  Before  the 
discovery  of  the  mariner's  compass,  the  east — the  point  where  the 
sun  rises — was  to  them  what  the  north  is  to  us;  so  that  "the 
left  of  Damascus"  means  to  say  the  north.  And  thus,  this  man 
of  peace,  who  made  war  to  liberate  his  nephew  and  not  for  any 
other  purpose,  brought  baclc  everything,  the  goods,  the  women, 
and  the  people. 

14:  17 — 24.      ABEAM,    MELCHIZEDEK    AND   THE    NEW    KING    OF    SODOM. 
(1913     B.     C.) 

17  And  the  king  of  Sodom  went  out  to  meet  him,  after  his  return 
from  the  slaughter  of  Chedorlaomer  and  the  kings  that  were  with 
him.  at  the  vale  of  Shaveh   (the  same  is  the  King's  Vale). 

18  And  Melchizedek  king  of  Salem  brought  forth  bread  and  wine : 
and  he  was  priest  of  God  Most  High. 

19  And  he  blessed  him,  and  said,  Blessed  be  Abram  of  God  Most 
High,  possessor  of  heaven  and  earth  : 

20  and  blessed  be  God  Most  High,  who  hath  delivered  thine  enem- 
ies into  thy  hand.     And  lie  gave  him  a  tenth  of  all. 

21  And  the  king  of  Sodom  said  unto  Abram,  Give  me  the  persons, 
and  take  the  goods  to  thyself. 

22  And  Abram  said  'to  the  king  of  Sodom,  I  have  lifted  up  my 
hand  unto  Jehovah,  God  INIost  High,  possessor  of  heaven  and  earth, 

23  _  that  I  will  not  take  a  thread  nor  a  shoe-latchet  nor  aught  that 
is  thine,  lest  thou  shouldest  say,  I  have  made  Abram  rich : 

24  save  only  that  which  the  young  men  have  eaten,  and  the  portion 
of  the  men  that  went  with  me,  Aner,  Eshcol,  and  Mamre;  let  them 
take  their  portion. 


168  GENESIS 

"Verse  10  informs  us  that  "the  kings  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
fled,  and  fell  there;  and  the  rest  fled  to  the  mountains,"  which  on 
the  east  side  rise  from  2,500  to  3,000  feet  above  the  waters  of  the 
sea;  the  mountains  of  the  west  being  less  elevated.  It  is  almost 
a  certain  inference  that  "fell  there"  means  that  they  died  there; 
and  as  the  invaders  sacked,  but  did  not  burn  the  cities,  by  the 
time  of  Abram's  return  the  scattered  people  would  have  begun  to 
reorganize  once  more.  The  new  king  of  Sodom,  therefore,  went 
forth  to  receive  Abram,  as  far  as  the  Vale  of  Shaveh,  which  was 
afterwards  called  the  King's  Vale  (2  Sam.  18:  18,  near  to  Jeru- 
salem, where  Melchizedek  was  king),  and  he  accorded  to  him  the 
honors  corresponding  to  his  great  victory,  and  the  acknowledg- 
ments which  were  his  due.  He  would  have  been  well  satisfied 
with  the  restitution  of  the  captives,  among  whom  probably  were 
to  be  reckoned  some  of  his  own  family;  and  so  he  proposed  to 
Abram  that  he  should  return  the  persons  and  keep  for  himself 
the  goods.  But  this  great  man,  whose  detractors  would  attribute 
to  him  the  baseness  of  making  merchandise  of  the  honor  of  hia 
wife  in  Egypt,  to  increase  his  goods,  manifests  here  a  nobility 
of  spirit  to  which  they  are  strangers;  and  though  he  had  the 
right,  as  conqueror,  to  retain  all  that  immense  booty,  and  the 
liberated  persons  as  well,  he  renounces  this  right,  and  insists  on 
returning  everything  to  its  owners,  nor  permits  that  the  king  of 
Sodom,  or  anybody  else,  should  say:  "7  made  Ahram  rich!" — 
excepting  only  the  part  which  the  young  men,  his  soldiers,  had 
eaten,  and  the  portion  which  fell  to  his  allies,  Aner,  Eshcol  and 
Mamre. 

But  another  more  illustrious  and  worthy  person  than  the  king 
of  Sodom  went  forth  to  receive  Abram,  when  so  near  to  his 
city,  viz.,  Melchizedek,  king  of  Salem,  who  was  also  "priest  of 
God  Most  High;"  and  he  brought  forth  bread  and  wine  to  refresh 
the  weary  conquerors.  Contrary  to  our  use,  "bread  and  wine" 
represents  a  collation,  or  slight  repast.  See  Ruth  2:  14;  Judges 
19:  19;  Neh.  5:  15.  He  also  blessed  Abram — the  proper  office  of  a 
priest;  and  Abram,  in  acknowledgment  of  his  official  superiority 
(Heb.  7:7),  and  as  a  sign  of  his  gratitude  to  God  Most  High, 
of  whom  the  other  was  a  priest,  gave  him  the  tenth  of  all  the 
spoils.    Heb.  7:  1,  4. 

Who  then  was  this  mysterious  person,  who  thus  suddenly 
presents  himself  as  a  priest-king,  or  a  king-priest  (a  priest  not 
of  idols,  but  of  God  Most  High),  at  a  time  when  we  supposed 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  had  perished  out  of  the 
earth?  The  question  is  of  itself  difficult  enough;  for  there  is  a 
moral  certainty  that  Salem    (or  Jerusalem,  Ps.  76:  2),  neither 


CHAPTER  14:  17—24  169 

before  nor  after  Abram's  day,  nor  till  the  reign  of  David,  was  a 
city  of  righteousness,  nor  were  its  people  the  servants  of  the  true 
God.  But  what  comes  to  increase  the  difficulty  is  what  is  said 
about  him  in  other  parts  of  Scripture,  and  particularly  in  Ps. 
110:  4,  and  Heb,  7:  1—10;  in  the  first  of  which  king  David  (aa 
Jesus  himself  gives  testimony  in  Matt.  22:  43 — 45;  Mark  12:  35— 
37;  Luke  20:  41 — 44),  says  prophetically,  to  him  who  was  to  be 
at  once  his  Son  and  his  Lord:  "Jehovah  hath  sworn  and  will 
not  repent  [that  is,  will  not  change  his  purpose].  Thou  art  a 
priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek"  (Ps.  110:  4);  and 
in  the  other,  Paul  says  that  this  pre-eminent  type  of  Christ  was 
acknowledged  to  be  greater  than  Abraham,  who  received  the 
promises,  and  greater  than  the  priests  and  Levites  of  the  Mosaic 
law,  who  paid  tithes  to  Melchizedek  in  the  person  of  their  father 
Abraham.  Who  then  was  Melchizedek,  and  what  was  the  order 
of  his  priesthood,  according  to  which  the  Messiah  was  to  be  at 
once  a  priest  and  a  king? 

The  common  opinion  of  the  Jews  with  regard  to  this  mysterious 
person  is  that  Melchizedek  was  no  other  than  Shem,  the  son  of 
Noah,  who,  according  to  the  common  chronology,  was  the  con- 
temporary of  Abraham  for  150  years.  But  this  opinion  of  theirs 
is  in  open  conflict  with  what  the  apostle  says  in  Heb.  7:  3, 
"without  father,  without  mother,"  etc., — that  is,  none  known  to 
us.  For  this  reason  others  suppose  that  it  was  Christ  himself, 
who  on  more  than  one  occasion  appeared  by  way  of  anticipation 
in  human  form,  before  his  incarnation.  Gen.  18:  1,  2,  22;  Josh.  5: 
13 — 15.  But  this  is  equally  in  conflict  with  the  argument  of  the 
apostle,  and  with  the  declaration  of  the  Psalmist,  and  the  oath 
of  God;  for  it  does  not  seem  possible  he  means  to  say  that 
Messiah, — the  Priest-King,  was  constituted  high  priest  according 
to  the  order  of  himself.  It  is  therefore  probable  that  the  opinion 
of  the  Jewish  historian  Josephus  is  correct,  to  wit,  that  Melchize- 
dek was  a  pious  king  of  Salem — which  later  was  called  Jerusalem 
— one  of  the  very  few  who  (like  Job,  who  was  both  a  priest  and  a 
prince.  Job  1:  5,  8  and  29:  25)  remained  in  that  day  with  the 
knowledge  and  worship  of  the  true  God;  whose  superiority,  as 
king,  Abram  readily  confessed,  and  whose  true  priesthood  he 
cheerfully  recognized.  The  pretension  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
priests  to  base  an  argument  for  the  payment  of  tithes  to  them, 
upon  the  example  of  Abram  in  giving  to  this  priest  of  God  Most 
High  the  tenth  part  of  the  spoils  taken  in  war,  does  not  deserve 
an  examination,  as  the  revenue  system  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
usage  of  the  apostolic  Church  was  that  of  voluntary  contrihutions 
(as  Cavaiario  expressly  teaches  in  his  Canon  Law  Part  XL  ch. 


170  GENESIS 

34) ;  this  also  being  the  rule  which  Paul  lays  down  in  2  Cor.  9:7: 
"Let  every  one  give  according  as  he  hath  purposed  in  his  heart, 
not  grudgingly  nor  of  necessity;  for  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver."' 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  tithes  and  other  enforced  contributions 
of  the  Romish  church,  it  would  never  have  been  able  to  enslave 
the  nations,  and  corrupt  so  horribly  as  it  has  done  the  religion 
of  Christ. 

That  other  pretension  of  theirs,  that  Melchizedek,  as  a  pre- 
eminent type  of  Jesus  Christ,  brought  forth  bread  and  wine,  not 
to  refresh  the  wearied  soldiers  of  Abram,  but  to  offer  a  sacrifice. 
In  prefiguration  of  the  so-called  "sacrifice  of  the  Mass"  (although 
they  corrupt  the  text  in  order  to  maintain  it),  merits  still  less 
consideration.  Let  them  go  and  learn  from  the  mouth  of  Paul 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  chs.  5,  6,  7,  8  and  9,  that  Christ 
is  the  only  Priest  of  his  people;  that  his  priesthood  is  intransmis- 
sible; and  that  the  Sacrifice  of  Calvary,  accomplished  once  only 
and  forever,  can  neither  be  repeated  nor  continued;  and  let  them 
dismiss  from  their  minds  the  impious  pretension  of  repeating  or 
continuing  that  sacrifice  100,000  times  every  day,  upon  the  altars 
of  their  own  invention.  In  all  parts  of  papal  Christendom. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

VES.     1 — 6.      GOD     EENEWS     AND     CONFIRMS     HIS     PBOMISE    TO     ABRAM. 
(1911   B.   C.) 

1  After  these  things  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  unto  Abram  in  a 
vision,  saying.  Fear  not,  Abram :  I  am  thy  shield,  and  thy  exceeding 
great  reward. 

2  And  Abram  said,  O  Lord  Jehovah,  what  wilt  thou  give  me,  see- 
ing I  go  childless,  and  he  that  shall  be  possessor  of  my  house  is 
Eliezer*  of  Damascus? 

3  And  Abram  said.  Behold,  to  me  thou  hast  given  no  seed ;  and, 
lo,  one  born  in  my  house  is  mine  heir. 

4  And,  behold,  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  unto  him,  saying,  This 
man  shall  not  be  thine  heir;  but  he  that  shall  come  forth  out  of  thine 
own  bowels  shall  be  thine  heir. 

5  And  he  brought  him  forth  abroad,  and  said,  Look  now  toward 
heaven,  and  number  the  stars,  if  thou  be  able  to  number  them :  and  he 
said  unto  him.  So  shall  thy  seed  be. 

6  And  he  believed  in  Jehovah ;  and  he  reckoned  it  to  him  for  right- 
eousness. 

l*A.  V.  and  M.  8.  T.,  this  Eliezer.] 

"After  these  things,"  means  after  this  war  and  its  results,  nar- 
rated in  the  preceding  chapter.  After  such  a  heroic  feat  of  arms, 
Abram  himself  would  be  filled  with  wonder  at  his  daring,  and 
his  reckless  valor;  and  the  more  he  reflected  upon  it,  the  more 
it  would  be  likely  to  disturb  his  tranquillity  of  spirit,  to  consider 


CHAPTER  15:  1—6  171 

the  possible  consequences  of  it;  and  for  this  reason  he  had 
the  tranquillizing  vision  with  which  he  was  favored  by  his  God. 
"The  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Abram,"  is  in  Hebrew  "there  was 
a  word  (or  thing)  from  Jehovah  to  Abram,  saying";  which  is  the 
usual  form  of  saying  that  Abram  received  a  divine  communication, 
a  supernatural  revelation,  from  Jehovah;  as  Gesenius  explains 
it  in  his  Hebrew  Lexicon.  [M.  S.  V. — Abraham  had  in  vi- 
sion a  revelation  from  Jehovah,  which  said,  etc.]  This 
revelation  was  made  in  vision;  the  first  perhaps  which 
Abram  received  in  this  form.  It  is  interesting  and  im- 
portant to  notice  in  this  history  not  only  the  development 
and  expansion  of  the  first  and  fundamental  promise  of  human  re- 
demption, but  also  the  distinct  progression  we  can  observe  in  the 
forms  of  that  revelation,  until  at  length  God  in  human  flesh  came 
into  the  world  "to  bear  witness  unto  the  truth."  John  18:  37.  To 
this  march  or  progression  in  the  divine  revelation  the  apostle 
refers  in  Heb.  1:  1,  2:  "God  who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers 
manners  spake  in  time  past  unto  the  fathers  by  the  prophets, 
hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son."  I  follow 
the  A.  V.  here,  the  R.  V.  being  almost  unintelligible.  The  Mod. 
Span.  Version  reads:  "God  having  spoken  in  former  times  unto 
the  fathers,  on  many  different  occasions,  and  in  many  different 
ways,  by  the  prophets,  hath  in  these,  the  last  days,  spoken  untc 
us  by  his  Son."  "We  shall  note  in  these  Studies  some  of  these 
"many  different  occasions"  and  "many  different  ways." 

It  has  always  been  the  usage  of  God  to  avail  himself  of  the 
critical  junctures  in  the  history  of  his  people,  to  give  them  the 
most  notable  revelations  of  his  will  and  of  his  love.  In  this  case 
Abram  had  cause  enough  to  believe  that  the  powerful  king  of 
Elam  would  not  abandon  the  enterprise  which  had  been  frus- 
trated by  a  successful  night  attack  on  the  part  of  Abram  and  his 
associates,  but  on  the  contrary  would  return  in  another  campaign 
to  make  them  pay  dearly  for  their  rash  act,  into  which  Abraham 
had  been  precipitated  by  his  love  for  his  nephew;  and  without 
doubt  also  by  a  special  divine  impulse.  At  such  a  juncture,  there- 
fore, this  new  revelation  would  serve  to  quiet  his  apprehensions  and 
take  away  every  cause  of  alarm:  "Fear  not,  Abram;  I  am  thy 
shield  and  thy  exceeding  great  reward!"  Precious  promise!  God 
not  only  will  defend  and  reward  his  people,  but  he  will  himself 
be  their  shield  and  reward!  And  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  con- 
firmed by  the  monuments  already  cited,  that,  for  some  cause, 
Chedorlaomer  and  his  powerful  vassals,  or  allies,  did  not  any 
more  return  to  subdue  his  revolted  provinces. 

The  reply  of  Abram  manifests  that  he  was  not  so  much  con- 


172  GENESIS 

cerned  about  the  invaders,  as  about  his  ov.n  unhappy  condition; 
a  man  rich  and  great,  who  had  enough  and  to  spare,  except  a 
son  and  an  heir:  "Oh  Lord  Jehovah,  what  wilt  thou  give  me" 
(or  what  canst  thou  give  me),  "seeing  that  I  go  childless,  and 
he  that  shall  be  possessor  of  my  house  is  this  Eliezer  of  Damas- 
cus?" (the  only  suggestion  we  have  that  Abram  had  ever  been  in 
Damacus); — "this  Eliezer  of  Damascus"  whom  he  seems  to 
mention  almost  with  bitterness.* 

There  is  no  doubt  that  slavery  existed  in  the  family  of  Abram, 
as  everywhere  else  in  that  day,  and  Abram  had  servants  bought 
with  his  money,  in  addition  to  those  born  in  his  house  (ch.  17: 
13,  27);  but  we  cannot  fail  to  see  that  it  was  a  form  of  slavery 
incomparably  more  benign  than  that  which  existed  among  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  and  than  that  of  the  negro  races  which  we 
have  known  in  modern  times,  when  we  see  Samuel  seat  the 
servant  of  Saul  at  the  table  beside  his  master  (1  Sam.  9:2),  and 
when  we  hear  Abram  speak  of  his  servant  as  his  presumptive 
heir.  Such  a  thing  was  not  without  example  in  ancient  times. 
In  1  Chron.  2:  34,  35,  we  read  of  one  "Sheshan  who  had  no  sons, 
but  daughters.  And  Sheshan  had  a  servant  (or  slave),  an 
Egyptian,  whose  name  was  Jarha.  And  Sheshan  gave  his  daugh- 
ter to  Jarha  to  wife"; — a  case  which  well  matches  this,  and 
comes  in  to  explain  the  thought  of  Abraham. 

Up  to  that  time  God  had  promised  to  give  him  that  land, — 
to  him  and  to  his  seed,  and  that  his  seed  should  be  numerous 
as  the  dust  of  the  earth;  but  how  and  when  he  had  not  said.  It 
is  certain  that  till  then — as  vr.  4  shows — he  had  not  promised  him 
a  true  and  proper  son  of  his  own  (Eliezer  would  have  been  hia 
son  by  adoption) ;  and  no  doubt  the  mind  of  Abram  was  greatly 
exercised  upon  this  point,  as  the  tone  almost  of  upbraiding, 
with  which  he  replies,  seems  to  indicate.  But  again  he  had  a 
revelation  from  Jehovah,  which  cleared  up  completely  the  case, 
giving  him  to  understand  that  not  his  servant  Eliezer,  but  a  soi) 
of  his  own  should  be  his  heir.  Still  the  problem  of  the  how  and 
the  when  remained  without  resolution,  even  when  he  brought 
him  forth  and  told  him  to  count  the  stars  of  heaven,  if  he  was 
able,  and  said  to  him:  "So  shall  thy  seed  he!"  It  was  and  is 
manifestly  the  purpose  and  will  of  God  that  his  people  should 
believe  his  promises  and  count  upon  their  entire  fulfilment, 
without  entering  upon  inquiries  as  to  the  how  and  the  when. 
Thus  it  was  with  Abram,  according  to  verse  6:     "And  he  be- 

•I  can  find  no  explanation  of  the  fact  that  Abraham  speaks  of  "thl3 
Damascene  Eliezer ;"  as  "one  born  in  my  house ;"  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
why  "a  home-born  slave"  should  be  called  a  "Damascene." — Tr. 


CHAPTER  15:  1—6  173 

lieved  in  Jehovah;  and  he  reckoned  it  to  him  for  righteousness." 
This  phrase  which  plays  so  notable  a  part  in  Paul's  argument 
on  justification  by  faith,  aside  from  legal  works,  in  Rom.  ch.  4: 
and  Gal.  3:  6,  and  which  James  likewise  repeats  in  James  2:  23, 
is  well  deserving  of  particular  attention  on  our  part.  Paul  cites 
the  passage  according  to  the  Greek  translation  of  the  LXX: 
"Abraham  believed  God,"  which  ought  not  to  invalidate  at  all 
the  Hebrew  form  "believed  in  Jehovah,"  nor  does  it  indicate  that 
Paul  preferred  the  former.  He  cited  the  passage  as  he  found  it  in 
the  Greek  Bible  of  the  Hellenists,  or  Greek-speaking  Jews,  as 
that  expressed  the  sense  sufficiently  well  to  serve  his  purpose. 
We  do  the  same  thing,  even  when  we  know  that  the  translation 
is  not  entirely  correct.  Divine  inspiration  did  not  oblige  the 
apostle  to  correct  the  defects  of  the  Version  in  common  use,  any 
more  than  honesty  requires  it  of  us.  It  would  have  been  a  thing 
as  unseemly  in  him  to  go  about  correcting  the  Greek  text,  when- 
ever he  cited  it,  as  is  the  same  insufferable  habit  with  certain 
preachers  in  our  day.  Abram,  then,  believed  in  Jehovah,  and 
not  merely  believed  him  in  regard  to  the  promise  made.  The 
Hebrew  says  literally  "Abram  stayed  himself  on  Jehovah";  and 
this  expresses  the  true  difference  between  the  mere  assent  of  the 
understanding,  and  a  true  and  living  faith:  he  received  the 
promise,  and  stayed  himself  on  Jehovah  (or  leaned  on  him)  for 
its  fulfilment;  and  as  this  pleases  God  more  than  all  our  own 
best  works  (John  6:  28,  29),  Jehovah  looked  upon  it,  as  he  al- 
ways looks  upon  it,  with  supreme  pleasure  and  satisfaction,  and 
"he  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness," — the  best  righteousness 
we  can  have,  and  that  which  honors  and  glorifies  God  more  than 
all  the  so-called  "works  of  righteousness  which  we  have  done" 
(Tit.  3:5),  and  without  which  the  best  works  of  men  cannot 
please  God;  for  "without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  him," 
Heb.  11:  6. 

The  example  of  Abram  (especially  as  Paul  by  divine  inspiration 
explains  it  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Romans),  leaves  little  to 
desire  in  point  of  clearness,  with  regard  to  the  use  of  this 
phrase.  Abram  was  a  sinner;  he  had  been  an  idolater;  in  Egypt 
he  had  distrusted  the  divine  protection  to  the  point  of  denying 
his  own  wife,  and  exposed  her  to  the  greatest  dangers;  and  in 
order  to  commit  this  unseemly  action  he  had  grievously  per- 
verted the  truth,  and  had  entangled  his  own  wife  in  the  same 
falsehood  (like  another  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  Acts  5:  2 — 9),  in 
saying  that  they  were  brother  and  sister,  rather  than  husband 
and  wife.  What  righteousness,  then,  could  a  sinful  man  like 
him  have  towards  God?     None;  that  is  evident.     But  this  con- 


174  GENESIS 

verted  pagan,  this  sinful  man,  who  through  human  weakness  lied, 
and  made  his  wife  to  take  part  in  his  falsehood;  who  repeated 
it  still  another  time,  with  even  less  excuse,  and  confessed  to 
Abimelech,  king  of  Gerar,  that  for  20  or  25  years  the  two  had 
between  them  a  standing  agreement  to  persist  in  the  same  false- 
hood, whenever  it  seemed  necessary  for  his  safety  (ch.  20:  2 — 
12) ;  how  could  he  be  reputed  as  righteous  with  God?  and 
where  shall  we  find  virtuous  actions  sufficient  to  make  this  man 
(stained  with  such  imperfections)  "the  friend  of  God?"  James 
explains  the  case  perfectly  where  he  says:  "and  the  Scripture  was 
fulfilled  which  saith:  And  Abram  believed  God,  and  it  was 
reckoned  to  him  for  righteousness;  and  he  was  called  the 
friend  of  God."  James  2:  23.  Abram  believed  Jehovah,  and  he 
believed  in  Jehovah — the  rarest  virtue  that  is  found  among  men; 
this  Abram  had  in  a  pre-eminent  degree,  and  this  was  his  chief 
title  to  distinction.  The  same  thing  happens  with  all  the  true 
children  of  Abraham — sinners  all,  who  are  distinguished  from 
other  men  not  so  much  by  the  pre-eminence  of  their  virtues 
and  good  works  (although  in  general  they  have  this  distinction 
also),  but  because,  living  in  the  midst  of  a  world  of  them  that 
"know  not  God,  and  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  they  believe  God,  and  believe  in  God — not  any  kind  of 
God,  but  him  who  reveals  himself  to  us  in  his  word;  and  their 
works  accredit  the  sincerity  of  their  faith.  It  was  for  this,  and 
not  for  his  magnificent  virtues  and  his  magnanimity  and  great- 
ness of  spirit, — it  was  for  this,  that  Abraham  was  regarded  and 
treated  as  righteous;  and  for  this  also  shall  be  justified   (that 

IS  TO  SAY,  BEGAEDED  AND  TREATED  AS  EIGHTEOUS),  although  Con- 
fessed sinners,  "all  those  who  walk  in  the  steps  of  the  faith  of 
our  father  Abraham";  those  who  believe  God  and  believe  in  God; 
not  as  he  is  according  to  their  own  caprice  and  notion,  nor 
that  of  others,  nor  according  as  is  taught  in  their  church,  or 
synagogue,  or  society,  or  country,  but  according  as  he  has  re- 
vealed himself  to  us  by  means  of  his  prophets  and  apostles,  and 
by  the  mouth  of  his  own  Son,  in  his  holy  word. 

Before  leaving  this  paragraph,  two  more  things  claim  our  at- 
tention: 

1st.  The  words  "So  (like  the  stars)  shall  thy  seed  be"  (vr. 
5),  and  its  equivalent,  many  times  repeated,  "innumerable  as  the 
sand  which  is  upon  the  sea  shore."  Astronomers  tell  us  that 
there  are  only  about  3,000  stars  visible  to  the  naked  eye;  but 
with  the  aid  of  the  most  powerful  telescopes,  80,000,000;  while 
beyond  these  in  the  depths  of  infinite  space  are  to  be  seen 
splotches  or  cloudlets  of  light,  which  indicate  perhaps  systems 


CHAPTER  15:  1—6  175 

of  thousands,  or  millions,  of  stars,  which  cannot  be  individualized 
on  account  of  their  inconceivable  distance.  Both  phrases,  then, 
represent  a  number  which  almost  touches  upon  the  infinite. 
"So  shall  thy  seed  he!"  But  the  Jews  in  our  day,  scattered 
through  all  the  nations,  and  kept  for  some  great  providential 
end,  do  not  exceed,  at  the  utmost,  and  by  the  largest  estimates, 
eight  or  ten  millions;  and  this,  some  4,000  years  after  that 
promise  was  made!  Shall  we  say  then  that  the  promise  of  God 
has  failed?  On  the  contrary,  how  evident  it  is  that  this  promise 
does  not  refer  to  the  Jews,  the  natural  descendants  of  Abraham, 
as  such! 

Paul,  treating  of  this  subject  in  Rom.  4:  9 — 32,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  inspiration,  joins  in  one  all  the  promises 
made  to  Abraham,  and  fixes  attention  on  the  form  of  them  given 
in  ch.  17:  5,  when  God  changed  his  name  from  Abram  into 
Abraham:  "A  father  of  many  nations  have  I  made  thee";  and  he 
treats  the  two  promises,  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual,  as  identi- 
cal: "Who  against  hope,  believed  in  hope,  that  he  might  become 
the  father  of  many  nations,  according  to  that  which  had  been 
told  him:  So  (like  the  stars)  shall  thy  seed  be!"  which  must 
undoubtedly  mean  "all  the  families  of  the  earth"  of  ch.  12:  3, 
who  were  to  be  blessed  in  Abraham.  These  nations  we  can  now 
see  are  not  Jews,  nor  Englishmen,  nor  Spaniards,  nor  Germans, 
nor  Russians,  nor  Chinese,  nor  Japanese,  of  this  present  world; 
but  rather  those  too  much  forgotten  nations  of  the  redeemed,  of 
whom  the  last  two  chapters  of  the  Revelation,  with  its  pictures 
of  redemption  completed,  gives  us  particular  information,  in  the 
"New  Heavens  and  New  Earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness." 
The  passage  plainly  treats  of  the  Christian  redemption,  and  seems 
to  fix  its  eye  on  that  coming  and  eternal  Age  of  righteousness 
and  life  eternal,  with  its  nations  of  redeemed  men,  who  shall 
be  the  fruit  of  the  travail  of  our  Redeemer's  soul  (Isa.  53:  11), — 
"the  joy  which  was  set  before  him,"  in  consideration  of  which 
"he  endured  the  cross  and  despised  the  shame,"  and  now  awaits  its 
entire  fulfilment,  "seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God."  Heb  12:  2; 
10:  12,  13. 

2nd.  It  is  a  very  common  opinion  (as  I  have  already  said,  and 
now  repeat  it)  among  evangelical  persons  that  Abraham,  looking 
down  the  vista  of  coming  ages,  saw  in  distant  view  Christ 
hanging  upon  the  cross,  and  by  faith  in  this  Redeemer,  yet  to 
come,  was  justified  and  saved.  But  this  is  undoubtedly  an  error. 
Paul  treats  at  length  of  the  faith  of  Abraham  which  was  counted 
to  him  for  righteousness,  and  in  which  Abraham  was  justified 
and  saved,  and  he  says  not  a  word  about  any  such  thing.     The 


176  GENESIS 

common  idea  that  Abraham  and  the  ancient  saints  believed  in  a 
suffering  Saviour  who  was  to  come,  as  we  believe  in  such  a 
Saviour,  who  has  already  come,  is  an  empty  imagination  of  which 
it  would  be  well  to  rid  our  minds.  In  case  it  were  so,  John  the 
Baptist,  and  the  apostles,  with  all  God's  pious  servants  in  our 
Lord's  day,  tvould  have  expected  that  Christ  "ought  to  suffer  and 
enter  {thus)  into  his  glory,"  instead  of  understanding  nothing 
at  all  about  it,  in  spite  of  all  the  admonitions  of  the  divine 
JMaster,  until  after  it  was  all  accomplished,  and  he  was  risen  from 
among  the  dead.  Luke  18:  33,  34;  24:  25,  26,  45,  46.  This,  of 
itself,  is  enough  to  refute  that  ill-founded  notion.  Abraham  and 
all  the  saints  of  the  old  times  Relieved  in  Jehovah  as  their  Re- 
deemer, and  believed  all  that  he  revealed  to  them;  and  Paul, 
treating  expressly  of  this  subject,  teaches  us,  not  that  Abraham 
was  justified  and  his  faith  was  counted  to  him  for  righteousness, 
in  reference  to  the  promise  of  a  Christ  sacrificed  and  risen,  but 
in  reference  to  tlie  promise  that  he  should  he  the  father  of  a 
multitude  of  nations,  and  that  his  seed  should  be  as  the  stars  of 
heaven  for  multitude,  and  as  the  dust  of  the  earth:  and  Abraham, 
making  no  account  of  the  innumerable  natural  difficulties  that 
opposed  its  fulfilment,  but  "looking  to  the  promise  of  God, 
wavered  not  through  unbelief,  but  was  strong  in  faith,  giving 
glory  to  God,  and  fully  persuaded  that  what  he  had  promised 
he  was  able  also  to  perform;  and  therefore  it  loas  counted  to  him 
for  righteousness."     Rom.    4:    19 — 22.      It   is    evident   that   the 

PROMISE  WAS  THAT  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  EEDEMPTION ;    but  it  iS  nO  leS3 

evident  that  the  faith  of  Abraham  was  occupied  with  the  results 
of  it  rather  than  with  the  means.  We  Christians  have  clearly  set 
before  us,  if  we  will  see  it,  both  the  results  and  the  means;  and 
for  this  reason  the  apostle  adds  that  "it  shall  be  counted  to  us 
also,  if  we  believe  in  Him  who  raised  up  Jesus  our  Lord  from 
among  the  dead;  who  was  delivered  for  our  offences,  and  raised 
again  for  our  justification."     Rom.   4:  23 — 25. 

15:  7 — 21.        GOD     EATIFIES     THE     PROMISES     MADE,     WITH     A     SOLEMN 
COVENANT.       (1911   B.    C.) 

7  And  he  said  unto  him.  I  am  Jehovah  that  brought  thee  out  of 
Ur  of  the  Chakloes,  to  give  thee  this  land  to  inherit  it. 

8  And  he  said,  O  Lord  Jehovah,  whereby  shall  I' know  that  I  shall 
inherit  it? 

9  And  he  said  unto  him.  Take  me  a  heifer  three  years  old,  and  a 
she-goat  three  years  old,  and  a  ram  three  years  old,  and  a  turtle-dove, 
and  a  young  pigeon. 

10  And  he  took  him  all  these,  and  divided  them  in  the  midst,  and 
laid  each  half  over  against  the  other:  but  the  birds  divided  he  not. 

11  And  the  birds  of  prey  came  down  upon  the  carcasses,  and 
Abram  drove  them  away. 


CHAPTER  15:  7—21  177 

12  And  when  the  sun  was  going  down,  a  deep  sleep  fell  upon 
Abram ;  and,  lo,  a  horror  of  great  darkness  fell  upon  him. 

13  And  he  said  unto  Abram,  Know  of  a  surety  that  thy  seed  shall 
be  sojourners  in  a  land  that  is  not  theirs,  and  shall  serve  them ;  and 
they  shall  afflict  them  four  hundred  years ; 

14  and  also  that  nation,  whom  they  shall  serve,  will  I  judge :  and 
afterward  shall  they  come  out  with  great  substance. 

15  But  thou  shalt  go  to  thy  fathers  in  peace ;  thou  shalt  be  buried 
in  a  good  old  age. 

16  And  in  the  fourth  generation  they  shall  come  hither  again :  for 
the  iniquity  of  the  Amorite  is  not  yet  full. 

17  And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  when  the  sun  went  down,  and  it 
was  dark,  behold  a  smoking  furnace,  and  a  flaming  torch  that  passed 
between  these  pieces. 

18  In  that  day  Jehovah  made  a  covenant  with  Abram,  saying, 
Unto  thy  seed  have  I  given  this  land,  from  the  river  of  Egypt  unto 
the  great  river,  the  river  Euphrates : 

19  the  Kenite,  and  the  Kenizzite,  and  the  Kadmonite, 

20  and  the  Hittite,  and  the  Perizzite,  and  the  Rephaim, 

21  and  the  Amorite,  and  the  Canaanite,  and  the  Girgashite,  and 
the  Jebusite. 

The  appearance  of  doufet  or  vacillation  which  Abram  manifests 
in  vr.  8,  did  not  turn  upon  the  promise  that  he  should  have  a 
son  of  his  own,  nor  of  the  redemption  which  by  his  means  waa 
to  come  to  all  the  families  of  the  earth.  Paul  considers  the  act 
of  faith  related  in  vr.  6,  as  a  single  act,  continuing  in  full  exercise 
from  that  point  until  Abraham  was  a  hundred  years  of  age,  a 
period  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  years,  and  down  to  the  birth  of 
Isaac.  Rom.  4:  19;  Gen.  17:  1 — 17.  The  vacillation  or  doubt  had 
to  do  with  the  possession  of  that  land; — in  what  form,  or  by  what 
means,  he,  already  an  old  man  of  85  years,  who  was  still  with- 
out a  son,  was  to  enter  into  possession  of  it,  occupied  then  by 
other  peoples  and  different  races.  He  asked  more  information 
on  a  subject  which  interested  him  so  deeply;  so  that  his  question 
does  not  contradict  the  argument  of  Paul  in  Rom.  4:  19 — 22,  nor 
his  declaration  that  Abraham  did  not  waver  through  unbelief 
with  regard  to  the  promise  of  God.  If  we  find  difficulty  in  tell- 
ing in  what  sense  and  how  far  Abraham  himself  was,  or  is,  to 
possess  that  land,  how  much  more  difficult  for  him?  The  words 
"possess"  and  "inherit"  are  the  same  thing  in  Hebrew  and  in 
New  Testament  Greek;  and  the  former  in  its  ordinary  sense,  even 
where  translated  "inherit":  "to  inherit  eternal  life"  is  to  possess 
it:  and  that  is  the  appropriate  sense  here.  Abraham  could  well 
see  that  the  time  was  remote,  and  asking  for  more  information 
with  regard  to  the  possession  of  that  land,  he  asked  also  some 
sign  and  formal  security,  not  so  much  for  himself,  as  to  give 
assurance  to  his  posterity,  which  before  its  fulfilment  might 
well  lose  faith  in  the  promise,  on  account  of  its  long  delay, — 
more  than  400  years,  as  God  proceeds  to  inform  him,  and  many  of 


178  GENESIS 

them  years  of  great  hardship  and  grievous  bondage;  as  in  fact 
happened  in  the  days  of  Moses,  when  the  children  of  Israel 
"hearkened  not  unto  Moses  for  anguish  of  spirit  and  for  cruel 
bondage."   Ex.  6:  9. 

Jehovah  deigned  to  grant  him,  in  part,  the  information  and  the 
formal  security  which  he  asked.  It  seems  that  it  was  an  ordinary 
custom  among  ancient  nations,  when  they  celebrated  covenants 
of  peculiar  solemnity,  to  observe  the  same  form;  viz.,  that  of 
dividing  in  twain  animals  slain  for  sacrifice,  and  the  contracting 
parties  passing  between  the  separated  pieces.  It  is  probable  that 
Abraham  was  previously  acquainted  with  this  form  of  covenant- 
ing; but  it  was  Jehovah  who  made  the  preliminary  arrangements. 
or  bade  Abram  make  them;  and  Abram  undoubtedly  passed 
many  times  between  the  severed  pieces,  while  he  kept  guard  over 
them,  until  night  came  on;  but  this  signifies  little,  as  it  was  not 
he,  but  God,  who  covenanted.  But  when  the  sun  was  about  to  set, 
a  deep  sleep  fell  upon  Abram  and  a  horror  of  great  darkness; 
and  while  he  was  in  that  state,  Jehovah  gave  him  information 
as  to  the  future  of  his  race,  of  their  going  down  into  Egypt,  of  the 
cruel  oppression  they  would  there  suffer,  of  their  coming  up 
from  thence  with  great  riches,  and  of  the  epoch  in  which  this 
should  happen — "in  the  fourth  generation" — or  after  four  hun- 
dred years.  Gesenius  in  his  Hebrew  Lexicon,  under  the  word 
Dor,  says:  "The  Hebrews,  as  we  do,  seem  commonly  to  have 
reckoned  the  duration  of  a  generation  at  from  thirty  to  forty 
years,  comp.  Job.  42:  16;  but  in  the  times  of  the  patriarchs  it  was 
reckoned  at  a  hundred  years;  see  Gen.  15:  16,  comp.  vr.  13  and 
Ex.  12:  40.  So  among  the  Romans  the  word  seculum  originally 
signified  age,  or  generation  of  men,  and  was  later  transferred  to 
denote  a  century.'"  "Dor"  is  the  word  used  in  vr.  16,  and  in  the 
Mod.  Span.  Version  it  is  translated  "century,"  ("in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury they  shall  come  hither  again") ;  the  object  of  a  translation 
being  to  put  the  mind  of  the  reader  in  correct  and  satisfactory 
touch  with  the  mind  of  the  writer,  rather  than  to  give  him  a 
problem  of  difiicult  interpretation.  In  ch.  50:  23  we  read  that 
"Joseph  saw  Ephraim's  children  of  the  third  generation."  As 
therefore  Joseph  was  married  when  30  years  old  and  died  when 
110,  (an  interval  of  80  years),  these  four  generations  of  his 
descendants  cannot  have  exceeded  20  years  each;  and  this  con- 
fusion of  "generation"  and  "generation,"  though  different  words 
in  the  original  (the  one  signifying  a  century,  and  the  other — in 
this  case — 20  years),  has  led  to  not  a  little  confusion  of  thought 
in  treating  of  the  length  of  the  sojourn  of  Israel  in  Egypt.  See 
2Jote  21. 


CHAPTER  15:  7—21  179 

Abram  awoke  from  Tiis  sleep,  to  observe  that  when  the  sun  was 
set  and  it  was  now  dark,  behold!  there  was  seen  a  smoking 
furnace  and  a  flaming  torch  (emblem  of  the  divine  presence, 
repeated  in  the  bush  that  burned  with  fire  and  was  not  con- 
sumed, Ex.  3:  2,  and  in  the  pillar  of  fire  and  of  cloud,  Ex.  13:  21), 
which  passed  between  the  pieces  of  the  divided  animals.  Vr.  17. 
So,  with  this  visible  sign,  God  covenanted  that  day  with  Abram, 
giving  to  his  seed  or  descendants  that  land,  from  the  river  or 
torrent  of  Egypt  (not  the  river  Nile),  unto  the  river  Euphrates; 
limits  which  the  kingdom  in  fact  reached  in  the  times  of  David 
and  Solomon.  This  covenant,  thus  formally  celebrated  with 
Abram,  although  it  made  special  allusion  to  the  possession  of 
that  land,  toward  which  Abram's  thought  was  then  directed,  em- 
braced undoubtedly  the  promises  formerly  given,  and  afterwards 
repeated,  of  the  human  redemption.  "The  covenant  made  with 
Abraham"  the  Bible  always  treats  as  one  and  indivisible,  em- 
bracing not  only  the  natural  descendants  of  Abraham,  but  Christ, 
and  all  the  benefits  and  the  beneficiaries  of  the  New  Covenant  of 
grace  and  redemption.  Paul  cites  expressly  vrs.  5  and  6  of  this 
chapter  as  setting  forth  that  act  of  "faith  which  was  counted  to 
Abraham  for  righteousness,"  and  this  necessarily  enters  into  the 
covenant  then,  for  the  first  time,  formally  celebrated  with  him. 

We  ought  not  to  pass  without  due  attention  those  remarkable 
words  of  vr.  16,  "for  the  iniquity  of  the  Amorites  is  not  yet 
full."  Four  hundred  additional  years  of  grace  God  granted  to 
that  race  of  sinners  (including  under  the  name  of  Amorites,  with 
whom  Abram  had  most  to  do,  the  other  tribes  of  Canaan),  before 
sweeping  them  away  with  the  besom  of  destruction.  The  same 
thing  happens  with  sinners  in  general.  And  the  long-suffering 
of  God  waits  while  they  go  on  filling  up  the  measure  of  their 
Iniquity;  but  then,  at  last,  the  sword  of  divine  justice  falls.  This 
thought  ought  to  embitter  the  cup  of  their  pleasures. 

[Note  21. — On  the  bondage  and  oppression  of  the  people  in 
Egypt,  and  on  the  time  of  their  sojourn  there.  There  has  been 
long  dispute,  and  still  is,  as  to  whether  the  time  which  the 
Israelites  passed  in  Egj'pt  was  215  years,  or  the  double  of  this, 
430  years;  a  question  which  will  be  again  discussed  in  the  com- 
ment on  Ex.  1:  7 — 12,  and  12:  40,  41;  but  it  interests  us  here  also, 
In  order  to  explain  the  "400  years"  of  the  oppression  and  bond- 
age (vr.  13),  and  the  "fourth  century,"  or  "generation,"  in  which 
the  children  of  Abraham  were  to  return  to  Canaan.     Vr.  16. 

To  me  it  seems,  after  many  years  study  of  this  point,  that  the 
dispute  is  founded  not  so  much  on  any  uncertainty  as  to  what 
the  Bible  itself  says  on  the  subject  (for  the  Bible  always  favors 


180  GENESIS 

the  short  term  of  215  years,  unless  Ex.  12:  40  be  an  exception, 
the  translation  and  sense  of  which  is  much  disputed,  and  which 
we  shall  consider  hereafter),  as  on  the  purpose  of  gaining  time, 
in  the  belief  that  the  Biblical  chronology  does  not  concede  time 
sufficient  to  put  it  in  harmony  with  the  newly  discovered  records 
of  Egyptian  history,  and  what  is  at  present  supposed  to  be  the 
testimony  of  the  monuments  of  Egypt; — the  very  same  purpose 
that  moved  the  translators  of  the  Greek  Version  of  the  LXX 
(Egyptian  Jews  all  of  them)  to  stretch  out  the  genealogies,  as 
we  have  seen;  in  spite  of  which,  however,  they  held  fast  to  the 
short  term  of  the  Egyptian  Sojourn.  See  Note  12  on  Biblical 
Chronology. 

The  text  says  "they  shall  afflict  them  four  hundred  years"— 
that  is  to  say,  counting  from  the  time  that  God  spoke  to  him; 
which  puts  vr.  13  in  agreement  with  vr.  16,  "in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury (=:in  400  years)  they  shall  return  hither";  because  the  two 
evidently  refer  to  the  same  thing.  In  the  Modern  Spanish  Version 
the  word  "until"  is  supplied  in  italics  before  the  "400  years," 
as  being  necessary  to  render  the  sense  plain;  because  the  oppres- 
sion and  bondage  did  not  last  even  the  half  of  the  400  years.  We 
must  deduct  in  the  first  place,  the  71  years  that  Joseph  governed 
In  Egypt,  after  the  arrival  of  his  father  and  brethren.  Then 
there  must  be  deducted  a  long  period  of  peace  and  prosperity 
which  the  people  enjoyed  after  his  death.  Moses  says  that  this 
lasted  "until  there  arose  a  new  king  (or  dynasty)  in  Egypt  which 
knew  not  Joseph"  (Ex.  1:  18) ;  but  he  does  not  say  when  this  was. 
Stephen  however  says,  that  "when  the  time  of  the  promise  drew 
nigh  which  God  had  sworn  unto  Abraham  (that  is,  the  'fourth 
century'  or  the  '400  years'  which  we  are  now  considering)  the 
people  grew  and  multiplied  in  Egypt,  until  there  arose  another 
king  (or  dynasty)  over  Egypt  who  knew  not  Joseph,  .  .  .  at 
which  season  Moses  was  horn,"  etc.  Acts  7:  17 — 20.  Moses  was 
80  years  old  when  he  brought  the  people  out  of  Egypt,  and  the 
oppression  and  bondage  began  only  a  little  while  before  he  was 
born,*  at  the  time  that  a  new  dynasty  came  in  to  reign.  If  we 
grant  twenty  years  for  this,  it  will  follow  that  the  oppression  and 
bondage  commenced  about  100  years  before  the  exodus;  so  that 
the  Modern  Spanish  Version  is  authorized  in  inserting  the  word 
"until,"  in  italics,  before  the  "400  years,"  to  make  it  appear  that 
these  do  not  indicate  the  duTation  of  the  bondage  and  oppression, 

•Aaron  was  born  three  years  before  Moses  (Ex.  7:  7),  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  he  ran  any  risk  of  his  life ;  which  seems  to  prove  that 
Pharaoh's  inhuman  edict,  consigning  to  death  all  the  male  children 
thereafter  born,  had  not  yet  been  promulgated. 


CHAPTER  15:  7—21  181 

but  the  date  at  which  they  were  to  end,  counting  from  a  given 
point.*  So  then  the  long  term  of  430  years  proves  to  be  incorrect 
all  around.  The  400  years  cannot  indicate,  in  general  terms,  the 
430  years  they  say  the  people  dwelt  in  Egypt;  for  they  are  ex- 
pressly spoken  with  reference  to  the  bondage  of  the  people  In 
Egypt,  and  not  the  time  of  their  residence  there;  nor  can  they 
give  the  duration  of  that  bondage,  because  it  lasted  only  from 
80  to  100  years;  nor  can  they  indicate  the  epoch  of  their  liberation, 
because  there  is  no  given  point  from  which  to  calculate  them. 
Just  the  contrary  happens  with  the  short  period  of  215  years. 
Jehovah  said  to  Abram  that  "in  the  fourth  century  (or  'genera- 
tion'), they  shall  return  hither;  because  the  iniquity  of  the 
Amorites  is  not  yet  -full"  (vr.  16);  from  which  it  seems  evident 
that  he  did  not  mean  to  say  that  the  bondage  would  last  400 
years,  but  until  400  years,  counting  from  that  date.  The  words  of 
Moses  and  of  Stephen  manifest  that  the  new  dynasty  (which  ac- 
cording to  the  Egyptologists  expelled  the  dynasty  of  the  Shepherd- 
kings,  which  favored  the  Israelites  and  other  Asiatic  peoples) 
began  the  oppression.  And  Stephen  says  that  was  the  time  in 
which  Moses  was  born;  so  that  the  concession  of  20  years  of 
bondage  and  oppression  before  the  birth  of  Moses  seems  to  be 
amply  sufBcient. 

The  declaration  of  Stephen  that  "Moses  was  born  wlien  the 
time  of  the  promise  was  drawing  nigh  which  God  had  sworn  to 
Abraham;"  the  express  declaration  of  Paul  that  the  promulgation 
of  the  Law  on  Sinai  was  430  years  after  the  covenant  which  God 
made  with  Abraham  (Gal.  3:  17), — the  same  covenant  which  we 
are  now  studying;  the  fact  that  Moses  v/ho  ought  to  have  known 
the  circumstances  of  his  own  birth,  tells  us  distinctly  that  hia 
father  Amram  was  a  grandson  of  Levi,  the  brother  of  Joseph, 
and  that  the  name  of  his  mother  "was  Jocabed,  a  daughter  of 
Levi  loho  ivas  born  to  Levi  in  Egypt,"  (Num.  26:  57,  58,  59) ;  and 
the  fact  that  all  the  genealogies  of  Moses  (Ex.  2:  1;  6:  16 — 27; 
Num.  26:  57—59;  1  Chron.  6:  1—3),  and  all  the  genealogies  of 
the  contemporaries  of  Moses,  agree  with  the  short  term,  but  not 
with  the  long  one,  ought  to  be  esteemed,  I  think,  sufficient  to  set- 
tle the  question. 

The  common  allegation,  which  is  urged  on  the  other  side,  that 
the  70  persons  who  came  into  Egypt  (ch.  46:  26,  27),  could  not  in 
215  years  increase  into  the  two  or  three  millions  of  people  who 

*The  Revised  Version  of  Acts  7 :  6  inserts  a  comma  before  tlie  "four 
hundred  years,"  seemingly  for  tlie  same  purpose ;  and  there  is  no  reason 
why  it  is  not  inserted  in  Gen.  15  :  13  also,  except  that  this  was  done 
by  a  different  company  of  Revisers. — Tr. 


182  GENESIS 

went  out  under  Moses,  has  nothing  to  stand  on;  because  not  only 
Jacob  and  his  sons  and  their  families  entered,  but  their  servants 
and  dependents  also — the  whole  tribe  or  clan — who  could  not  have 
been  less  than  2,000  persons  and  may  have  been  3,000  or  4,000; 
who  might  well  increase  to  that  number  under  the  protecting 
hand  of  God;  and  we  are  informed  at  every  step  that  the  increase 
of  the  people  in  Egypt  was  prodigious,  in  spite  of  the  oppression 
which  they  suffered.  But  if,  on  the  contrary,  the  430  years 
(eleven  generations)  be  granted,  which  the  advocates  of  the  long 
term  claim,  the  movement  of  population  would  be  so  extremely 
Blow  as  to  reduce  to  a  meaningless  exaggeration  the  repeated 
declarations  of  their  enormous  increase  in  Egypt.  See  also  the 
comment  on  Ex.  1:  7 — 9.  The  disputed  translation  of  Ex.  12:  40, 
we  shall  consider  in  its  place.] 

[Teanslatob's  Note  2. — On  Exodus  12:  40.  The  Modern  Spanish 
Version  of  this  passage  reads:  "And  the  sojourning  life  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  who  had  dwelt  in  Egypt,  was  430  years" — "the 
children  of  Israel"  being  understood,  as  the  Version  of  the  LXX 
understands  it,  and  the  English  Version  understands  it,  as  mean- 
ing the  people  of  Ood,  and  including  Abraham  and  Isaac,  as 
well  as  Jacob  himself,  who  went  down  with  his  children  and  their 
families  into  Egypt  (seventy  souls,  as  we  are  told  in  ch.  46:  27), 
together  with  thousands  of  servants  and  dependents — not  less 
than  2000,  and  probably  more  (see  comments  on  ch.  46:  1 — 7)  — 
circumcised  Hebrews  all  of  them,  and  forming  an  integral  part 
of  the  coming  Hebrew  nation  (ch.  17:  12,  13,  27) ;  these  as  well  as 
their  offspring  down  to  the  times  of  Moses.  To  the  same  pur' 
pose  is  the  A.  V.  of  the  passage:  "Now  the  sojourning  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  who  dwelt  in  Egypt,  was  430  years."  The  Re- 
visers displaced  this  translation  with  the  following:  "Now  the 
sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel,  which  they  sojourned  in 
Egypt,  was  430  years."  This  is  manifestly  an  incorrect  rendering 
of  the  Hebrew;  since  "moshav"  rendered  sojourning,  is  never  once 
so  rendered  in  the  43  times  it  is  found  in  the  Hebrew  Bible,  except 
In  this  case;  and  the  verb  "yashav,"  translated  sojourned,  out  of 
1050  times  it  occurs  in  the  Hebrew  Bible  is  never  so  rendered 
except  in  this  one  case,  where  the  A.  V.  renders  it  correctly 
"dwelt" ;  so  that  the  alleged  Hebrew  idiom,  "the  sojourning  which 
they  sojourned"  cannot  stand — it  was  wade  for  the  occasion.  The 
American  Standard  Revised  Version  (1901)  seems  to  be  so  well 
satisfied  of  this,  that  it  gives  up  the  idea  of  translating  it  alto- 
gether, and  paraphrases  it  thus:  "Now  the  time  that  the  children 
of  Israel  dwelt  in  Egypt  was  430  years;" — which  the  Hebrew  text 
Is  careful  not  to  say.    The  Modern  Spanish  Version,  "the  sojourn- 


CHAPTER  16:  1—6  183 

Ing  life  of  the  children  of  Israel,  who  had  dwelt  in  Egypt,  waa 
430  years,"  is  as  good  as  any  of  them  simply  as  a  translation  of 
the  Hebrew  words;  and  on  reading  my  defense  of  it,  the  venerable 
Dr.  William  Henry  Green,  of  Princeton  Seminary,  New  Jersey, 
wrote  me  a  few  months  before  his  lamented  death,  that  as  a 
matter  of  translation,  it  could  stand;  though  he  did  not  think 
it  expressed  the  sense  of  the  writer.  However  that  may  be,  it 
has  the  merit  of  setting  the  difficult  passage  in  harmony  with 
Moses  himself — or  with  Jehovah's  words  by  his  mouth — in  eh. 
15:  13,  16;  with  Paul  in  Gal.  3:17;  with  Stephen  in  Acts  7:  17,  20; 
with  the  genealogies  of  Moses  and  his  contemporaries,  repeatedly 
given  in  the  Bible,  which  all  favor  the  short  term;  and  with 
Moses'  own  account  of  tis  personal  history,  which  he  gives  several 
times  over;  see  Ex.  2:  1,  2;  6:  16 — 29  and  Num.  26:  59;  a  matter 
about  which  he  might  be  presumed  to  know  more  than  all  the 
moderns  put  together.  In  a  word,  that  rendering,  "which  may 
stand  as  a  matter  of  translation,"  puts  the  passage  in  harmony 
with  all  parts  of  the  Bible  itself,  and  with  the  universal  belief 
of  Bible  expositors  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  till  a  very 
recent  date.  It  is  only  out  of  harmony  with  the  supposed  find- 
ings of  the  Egyptian  monuments;  in  which  all  do  not  agree.  In 
an  article  from  the  pen  of  Prof.  A.  H.  Sayce,  published  a  few 
years  ago  in  The  Independent,  of  New  York  City,  he  said  that  the 
readings  of  the  Egyptian  monuments  were  not  any  more  decisively 
in  favor  of  the  long  term  than  of  the  short.] 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

VBS.     1 6.        HUMAN     EXPEDIENTS     TO     GIVE     EFFECT     TO     THE     DIVINE 

PROMISES.      HAGAB.    (1910   B.   C.) 

1  Now  Sarai,  Abram's  wife,  bare  him  no  children :  and  she  had  a 
handmaid,  an  Egyptian,  whose  name  was  Hagar. 

2  And  Sarai  said  unto  Abram,  Behold  now,  Jehovah  hath  re- 
strained me  from  bearing ;  go  in,  I  pray  tliee,  unto  my  handmaid ;  it 
may  be  that  I  shall  obtain  children  by  her.*  And  Abram  hearkened 
to  the  voice  of  Sarai. 

3  And  Sarai,  Abram's  wife,  took  Hagar  the  Egyptian,  her  hand- 
maid, after  Abram  had  dwelt  ten  years  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and 
gave  her  to  Abram  her  husband  to  be  his  wife. 

4  And  he  went  in  unto  Hagar,  and  she  conceived :  and  when  she 
saw  that  she  had  conceived,  her  mistress  was  despised  in  her  eyes. 

r)  And  Sarai  said  unto  Abram,  My  wrong  be  upon  thee :  I  gave 
my  handmaid  into  thy  bosom ;  and  when  she  saw  that  she  had  con- 
ceived, I  was  despised  in  her  eyes :  Jehovah  judge  between  me  and 
thee. 

6  But  Abram  said  unto  Sarai,  Behold,  thy  maid  is  in  thy  hand; 
do  to  her  that  which  is  good  in  thine  eyes.  And  Sarai  dealt  hardly 
with  her,  and  she  fled  from  her  face. 

*Heb.  be  builded  by  her. 


184  GENESIS 

After  so  explicit  a  premise  that  God  would  give  him  a  son, 
Abram  and  Sarai  naturally  expected  its  prompt  fulfilment.  But 
as  the  faith  of  Abram  was  his  distinctive  trait  and  the  most 
glorious  and  precious  attribute  of  his  character,  and  as  it  was 
for  this  (and  not  on  account  of  his  good  works)  that  he  was 
"justified"  (=  regarded  and  treated  as  righteous)  before  God, 
Jehovah  was  careful  to  refine  and  strengthen  it  by  means  of 
many  trials.  The  promised  son  did  not  come.  Ten  years  had 
already  passed  since  God  brought  him  to  the  land  of  Canaan  to 
inherit,  or  possess,  it  (ch.  15:  7),  and  as  we  know,  he  was  yet  to 
wait  fifteen  more,  before  the  promise  was  fulfilled  that  he  should 
have  a  son  to  inherit  it,  in  whose  seed  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  should  be  blessed.  But  Sarai  knew  nothing  of  this,  and 
Abram  did  not  distantly  suspect  it.  Sarai  only  knew  that  ten 
years  had  passed  without  any  of  God's  many  promises  bringing 
her  the  happiness  of  being  a  mother;  and  believing  it  useless  to 
wait  any  longer,  or  perhaps  believing  that  she  might  help  for- 
ward the  cause,  she  adopted  the  most  extraordinary  expedient 
that  ever  found  a  place  in  the  heart  of  a  well  married  woman, 
and  gave  to  her  husband  her  Egyptian  slave,  Hagar,  for  a  sec- 
ondary wife;  according  to  the  use  of  the  times.  Ch.  22:  24.  Until 
then,  Abram  had  been  a  strict  monogamist;  but  when  Sarai 
formally  made  him  such  a  proposal,  he  accepted  it,  not  for  lack 
of  faith  in  God,  but  on  account  of  the  representations  of  his  wife, 
that  God  perhaps  waited  for  them  to  take  the  necessary  steps 
for  the  fulfilment  of  what  he  had  promised;  and  in  fine,  God  had 
promised  him  a  son,  but  not  necessarily  by  Sarai,  and  the  son  of 
Hagar  would  certainly  be  Abram's  own  son.  These  human  ex- 
pedients to  give  effect  to  the  divine  promises  continue  still  to  be 
one  of  the  most  dangerous  reefs  on  which  Christian  life  is 
wrecked. 

The  reasons  alleged  by  Sarai  would  appear  to  be  well  taken, 
in  the  view  of  a  merely  human  prudence;  but  the  result  did  not 
turn  out  according  to  her  wishes;  for  the  servant,  when  she  found 
herself  enciente,  despised  her  mistress,  and  was  guilty  of  the 
imprudence  of  manifesting  it.  Solomon  says  "that  a  handmaid, 
when  she  is  heir  to  her  mistress,  is  one  of  the  three  or  four 
things  for  which  the  earth  is  troubled,  and  which  it  cannot  bear." 
(Prov.  30:  21 — 23) ;  and  so  Sarai  found  it,  to  the  bitterness  of  her 
soul;  although  we  cannot  help  suspecting  that  the  mistress  had 
as  much  part  in  this  as  the  handmaid.  Sarai,  with  the  petulance 
that  is  natural  to  the  woman  who  has  always  had  her  own  way, 
threw  the  blame  of  her  misfortune  on  her  husband,  and  he, 
authorizing  her  to  do  as  she  would  with  her  rival,  the  servant. 


CHAPTER  16:  7—16  1S5 

ill-treated  her — the  words  mean  ail  that — to  such  a  degree  that 
she  fled  from  the  encampment,  and  went  away  into  the  desert. 

16:  7 — 16.      HAGAK  AND  ISHMAEL.       (1910   B.  C.) 

7  And  the  angol  of  Jehovah  found  her  by  a  fountain  of  water  in 
the  wilderness,  hy  the  fountain  in  the  way  to  Shur. 

8  And  he  said,  Hagar,  Sarai's  handmaid,  whence  earnest  thou?  and 
whither  goest  thou?  And  she  said,  I  am  fleeing  from  the  face  of  my 
mistress  Sarai. 

9  And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  said  unto  her,  Return  to  thy  mistress, 
and  submit  thyself  under  her  hands. 

10  And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  said  unto  her,  I  will  greatly  multiply 
thy  seed,  that  it  shall  not  be  numbered  for  multitude. 

11  And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  said  unto  her.  Behold,  thou  art  with 
child,  and  shalt  boar  a  son ;  and  thou  shalt  call  his  name  Ishmael, 
because  Jehovah  hath  heard  thy  affliction. 

12  And  he  shall  be  as  a  wild  ass  among  men  ;  his  hand  shall  be 
against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  against  him  ;  and  he  shall 
dwell  over  against  all  his  brethren. 

13  And  she  called  the  name  of  Jehovah  that  spake  unto  her, 
Thou  art  a  God  that  seeth:*  for  she  said,  Have  I  even  here  looked 
after  him  that  seeth  me? 

14  Wherefore  the  well  was  called  Beer-lahai-roi  :t  behold,  it  is 
between  Kadesh  and  Bered. 

15  And  Hagar  bare  Abram  a  son :  and  Abram  called  the  name  of 
his  son,  whom   Hagar  bare,  Ishmael. 

16  And  Abram  was  fourscore  and  six  years  old,  when  Hagar  bare 
Ishmael  to  Abram. 

*0r.  Thou  God  seest  me. 

■fl'liat  is.  The  well  of  the  living  one  who  seeth  me. 

Hagar  naturally  took  the  road  to  her  own  country,  and,  being 
a  resolute  and  high  spirited  woman,  and  proud  of  the  distinction 
of  giving  a  son  to  her  master,  she  took  her  solitary  way  for 
Shur; — the  name  of  the  district  to  the  N.  E.  of  Egypt,  including 
the  eastern  part  of  what  we  call  the  Isthmus  of  Suez.  While 
she  was  on  her  way,  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  found  her  at  a  foun- 
tain of  water  near  to  the  S.  W.  limits  of  the  land  of  Canaan.  He 
detained  her  in  her  purpose  of  going  to  her  own  country,  and 
bade  her  return  to  her  mistress  and  submit  herself  to  her  author- 
ity. The  Angel  likewise  said  to  her:  "I  will  greatly  multiply 
thy  seed."  Very  surprising  must  these  words  have  sounded  in 
the  ears  of  Hagar;  and  in  ours  they  ought  to  make  little  less 
impression.  Who,  then,  was  the  "Angel"  that  thus  spoke,  but 
the  "Angel  of  the  Covenant,"  who  appeared  to  Moses  in  the  burn- 
ing bush,  and  witli  the  name  and  the  authority  of  Jehovah,  com- 
missioned him  to  bring  forth  His  people  out  of  Egypt,  and  gave 
directions  as  to  the  steps  he  should  take  for  this  purpose?  Ex. 
3:  2,  4 — 6.  The  word  ''angel"  signifies  "messenger,"  or  "sent 
one";  and  if  this  Angel  was  a  divine  person,  who  but  God  the 
Father  could  be  he  that  sent  him?     Here  then  we  have  another 


186  GENESIS 

proof  of  the  doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  persons  in  the  Godhead, 
found  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  near  to  the  beginning  of  it.  The 
God  Jehovah  sent  his  Angel,  who  was  also  God  Jehovah,  as  is  said 
in  vrs,  10  and  13,  and  as,  with  greater  emphasis,  is  repeated  in  Ex. 
3:  2 — 6;  and  he  also,  when  he  was  made  flesh,  said  to  his  afSicted 
disciples:  "I  tell  you  the  truth;  it  is  expedient  for  you  that  I 
go  away;  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  ('who  is  the  Holy 
Ghost')  will  not  come  unto  you;  but  if  I  go,  I  will  send  him  unto 
you."  John  IG:  7.  So  then  the  Son  is  the  "Angel,"  or  "Sent  One" 
of  the  Father;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  "Angel,"  or  "Sent  One," 
of  the  Son.  Comp.  Acts  2:  32  and  John  14:  26.  More  than  sixty 
times  in  the  New  Testament,  in  various  forms,  Jesus  is  called, 
or  calls  himself,  the  sent  one.    See  John  5:  38;  6:  29;  12:  49. 

The  Angel  said  likewise  to  her  that  she  was  to  become  the 
mother  of  a  son,  whom  she  should  call  Ishmael  (=  God  will  hear), 
in  commemoration  of  the  fact  that  God  had  "heard  her  (cries  iq 
her)  affliction"; — a  seemingly  clear  proof  that  in  her  lonely 
wandering  in  the  desert,  she  had  called  for  help  to  the  God  of  her 
master  Abram.  A  wild  and  untamable  man,  like  the  wild  ass 
of  the  desert,  was  her  son  Ishmael  to  be;  free  and  indomitable  as 
the  "onager"  described  in  Job  39:  5 — 8,  "who  heareth  not  the  cry 
of  the  driver";  "his  hand  against  every  man  and  every  man's 
hand  against  him" — a  vivid  picture  of  the  Bedouin  Arabs,  his 
descendants,  until  this  day:  "and  in  the  presence  of  all  his 
brethren  shall  he  dwell."  He  would  not,  therefore,  be  the  only 
son  of  Abram,  but  should  have  brethren;  yet  in  the  presence  of  all 
of  them  he  should  maintain  himself  free  and  independent,  un- 
conquered  and  unconquerable  as  the  wild  ass. 

A  very  great  prophecy  is  this.  While  the  Jews  of  the  world, 
dispersed  throughout  the  globe,  do  not  exceed  eight  or  ten 
millions,  at  most,  the  descendants  of  Ishmael,  and  those  allied 
with  and  joined  to  him  in  the  faith  of  the  false  prophet  of 
Arabia,  Mohammed — an  Ishmaelite  of  the  Ishmaelites — form  a 
vast  host,  of  150,000,000  to  200,000,000  people.  "I  will  greatly 
multiply  thy  seed,  so  that  it  cannot  be  counted  for  multitude." 

If  Hagar,  who  knew  the  secrets  of  the  family,  entertained  the 
hope  that  she  was  to  be  the  mother  of  the  promised  "Seed,"  the 
revelation  which  the  Angel  made  was  enough  to  undeceive  her; 
but  being  a  woman  of  worldly  and  ambitious  disposition,  and  of 
a  proud  spirit,  the  promise  of  the  Angel  would  at  any  rate  leave 
her  completely  satisfied;  and  she  commemorated  a  divine  inter- 
position, so  merciful  and  so  opportune,  by  calling  the  Angel- 
Jehovah,  who  spake  with  her:  "Thou-God-seest-me."  (A.  V.),  and 
probably  she  called  the  well  also  "the  Well  of  the  Living-One-who- 


CHAPTER  16:  T— 16  187 

seeth-me  {Hei.  Beer-lahai-roi) ;  a  name  which  was  long  preserved 
in  the  family  of  Abraham.  Ch.  24:  62;  25:  11.  Vr.  14  locates  thi3 
well  "between  Kadesh  and  Bered."  But  Bered  does  not  appear 
again  in  the  Bible  as  the  name  of  a  place,  and  Kadesh  also  is  of 
uncertain  location.  So  that  the  surest  note  of  the  locality  of  this 
well  will  be  found  in  the  fact  that  Hagar  set  out  from  Hebron  and 
took  the  route  to  Shur,  which  was  precisely  at  the  entrance  of 
Egypt;  whither  doubtless  the  Egyptian  directed  her  steps.  In 
this  line  therefore,  should  the  well  be  sought,  and  not  in  the  road 
to  Mount  Sinai,  where  some  would  locate  it.  It  will  be  well  for  us. 
If  in  imitation  of  this  unhappy  woman,  we  also  erect  our  "Eb- 
enezer"  (1  Sam.  7:  12)  in  the  places  of  our  mortal  pilgrimage 
where  our  God  has  lent  us  his  special  aid. 

Others  give  a  different  sense  to  vr.  15,  and  translate:  "Also  do 
I  here  see  (==live),  after  the  vision  (of  God) ;"  and  they  support 
this  sense  with  ch.  32:  30;  Jud.  6:  22;  13:  22:— an  exclamation 
of  surprise  and  pleasure  that  she  had  seen  God  and  yet  remained 
alive;  according  to  an  ancient  belief  that  a  vision  of  God  de- 
prived of  life  any  who  should  have  it.  The  passage  is  extremely 
difficult,  and  many  and  various  are  the  meanings  which  are 
given  to  it  in  the  ancient  Versions.  That  which  I  have  given, 
Beems  to  be  the  most  satisfactory,  and  is  likewise  the  most 
common. 

[Note  22. — On  the  "Angel  of  Jehovah."  It  is  an  interesting 
and  very  important  fact  that  he  who  in  Gen.  16:  7—10;  21:  17,  18; 
31:  11—13;  Ex.  23:  20,  21;  Judg.  2:  1,  2;  13:  3,  18,  22,  and  in 
other  cases  besides,  presents  himself  to  us  as  "the  Angel  of 
Jehovah,"  is  represented  in  the  context  as  Jehovah  himself, 
speaking  in  his  name  and  with  his  authority,  and  clothed  with 
his  prerogatives.  In  chapter  18,  and  in  Josh.  5:  13 — 15;  6:5,  we 
shall  have  to  consider  the  case  of  one  in  human  form,  who  with- 
out  being  called  "Angel,"  the  history  clothes  with  the  dis- 
tinctive traits  of  Jehovah  and  gives  him  the  name  of  Jehovah. 
Such  a  one  is  indeed  "the  Angel  of  Jehovah"  (or,  if  you  please 
"the  Angel  Jehovah"),  who,  1900  years  after  this  interview, 
"became  flesh"  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  was  born  to 
be  Jehovah-Jesus. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  Hebrew  does  not  dis- 
tinguish, and  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  cannot  distinguish,  between 
"the  Angel  of  Jehovah" — he  who  is  such  par  excellence,  and  an 
angel  of  Jehovah — any  one  of  the  many  whom  he  sends  as  his 
messengers,  and  to  execute  his  mandates;  and  it  remains  with 
the  translator  to  make  the  due  distinction  between  the  two, 
according  as  the  sense  demands;    as   is   done   in   the   English 


1S8  GENESIS 

Version.  The  Revised  English  Version,  affecting  as  it  does  an  ex- 
treme precision,  always  translates  "the  angel  of  Jehovah,"  (or  "of 
the  Lord")  whoever  the  said  angel  may  be;  which  is  the  same 
as  to  use  the  phrase  always  in  an  indefinite  sense;  and  in  fact 
the  Revised  English  Version,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  never  uses 
the  phrase  "an  angel  of  Jehovah"  in  the  Old  Testament. 

It  is  also  an  interesting  circumstance  that  after  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  "Angel  of  Jehovah,"  in  the  form  of  Jesus-Jehovah, 
the  original  Greek  of  the  New  Testament  never  presents  to  U3 
any  messenger  from  heaven  as  "the  angel  of  the  Lord,"  but  al- 
ways indefinitely  as  "an  angel  of  the  Lord,"  (as  is  seen  in 
the  Revised  English  Version,)  unless  it  be  in  allusion  to  an  angel 
already  mentioned.  And  this  circumstance,  unobserved  by  the 
translators  of  the  Bible  in  general,  furnishes  us  an  incidental 
proof,  first,  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  second, 
that  the  Son  of  Mary  is  the  Angel  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment; according  as  the  prophet  Isaiah,  proclaimed  the  fact,  700 
years  before  his  wonderful  birth: 

"For  unto  us  a  Child  is  born, 

unto  us  a  Son  is  given; 

and  the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder: 

and  his  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor, 

Mighty  God,  Everlasting  Father,*  Prince  of  Peace. 

Of  the  increase  of  his  government  and  peace  there  shall  be 

no  end, 
upon  the  throne  of  David,  and  upon  his  kingdom, 
to   establish   it,   and  to   uphold   it  with   justice  and   with 

righteousness 
from  henceforth  and  forever. 
The  zeal  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  will  perform  this."  Isa.  9:  6,  7.] 

[In  the  above  quotation  from  Isaiah,  the  translation  "Ever- 
lasting Father,"  as  one  of  the  names  of  Christ,  is  unfortunate 
and  misleading,  and  leaves  the  ordinary  reader  in  sad  perplexity 
as  to  how  the  Son  of  Mary  should  bear  a  distinctive  title  of  "God 
the  Father  Almighty."  The  Hebrew  form,  as  given  in  the  mar- 
gin of  our  Bibles,  does  not  help  the  matter  much.  "Father  of 
eternal  duration,"  would  be  more  comprehensible.  The  Latin 
Vulgate  renders  it  "Father  of  the  Future  Age,"~  the  Woria  to 
Come — the  "world  without  end."  The  Vulgate  translations  of 
Scio  and  Amat  render  it  "Father  of  the  Age  to  Come."  The 
Modern  Spanish  Version,  following  the  Hebrew  more  closely, 
renders  it  "Father  of  the  Eternal  Age"  ("age"  in  italics).  This  is 
*Hch.   Father  of  Eternity. 


CHAPTER  17:  1—8  189 

doubtless  the  meaning  of  the  name.  Adam  was  and  is  the  Father 
of  this  present  Age  of  sin  and  death;  Jesus  Christ,  the  Second 
Adam,  is  "the  Father  of  the  Coming  Age"  of  righteousness  and 
life  eternal.  "He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall 
be  satisfied."  Isa.  53:  11.  He  is  yet  to  say,  when  the  number  is 
complete:  "Behold  me  and  the  children  which  God  hath  given 
me!"  Heb.  2:  13.  Two  great  men  tower  immeasurably  above 
all  others  in  the  history  of  men:  the  man  toho  damned  the  toorld, 
and  the  man  who  saves  the  world — sent  by  God  for  this  very  pur- 
pose (1  John  4:  14)  and  not  merely  to  save  individuals,  whether 
regarded  as  many  or  few.  Paul  draws  the  parallel  between  them 
in  Rom.  5:  12-21.  Each  is  father  of  his  own,  as  there  indicated. 
In  this  sense  the  "child"  born  in  Bethlehem  is  the  "Eternal 
Father"  of  the  English  Versions;  or  better  said,  the  "Father  of 
the  age  (or  world)  to  come" — the  eternal  age,  "the  world  with- 
out end."  Of  all  "them  that  are  accounted  worthy  to  obtain  that 
world  and  the  resurrection  from  among  the  dead"  (Luke  20:  35), 
and  also  of  all  the  infant  dead,  "of  whom  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,"  he  is  the  father;  "Father  of  the  world  (or  age)  to 
come."     Compare  Greek  text  of  Heb.  2:  5. — Tr.] 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

VRS.  1 — 8.  ONCE  MOBE  THE  COVENANT  IS  ESTABLISHED  WITH  ABRAM, 
UNFOLDING  MORE  AND  MORE  THE  PROMISE.  HIS  NAME  IS  CHANGED 
TO  ABRAHAM.       (1897  B.  C.) 

1  And  when  Abram  was  ninety  years  old  and  nine,  Jehovah  ap- 
peared to  Abram,  and  said  unto  him,  I  am  God  Almighty;  walk  be- 
fore me,  and  be  tliou  perfect. 

2  And  I  will  make  my  covenant  between  me  and  thee,  and  will 
multiply  thee  exceedingly. 

3  And  Abram  fell  on  his  face :  and  God  talked  with  him,  saying, 

4  As  for  me,  behold,  my  covenant  is  with  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be 
the  fallier  of  a  multitude  of  nations. 

5  Neither  shall  thy  name  any  more  be  called  Abram,  but  thy  name 
shall  be  Abraham ;  for  the  father  of  a  multitude  of  nations  have  I 
made  thee. 

6  And  I  will  make  thee  exceeding  fruitful,  and  I  will  make  na- 
tions of  thee,  and  kings  shall  come  out  of  thee. 

7  And  I  will  establish  my  covenant  between  me  and  thee  and  thy 
seed  after  thee  throughout  their  generations  for  an  everlasting  cove- 
nant, to  be  a  God  unto  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee. 

8  And  I  will  give  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,  the  land 
of  thy  sojournings,  all  the  land  of  Canaan,  for  an  everlasting  posses- 
eion ;  and  I  will  be  their  God. 

Thirteen  years  had  passed  since  the  birth  of  Ishmael,  who 
was  born  eleven  years  after  Abram's  entrance  into  the  land  of 
Canaan, — a  total  of  twenty-four  years.  Abram  naturally  re- 
garded Ishmael  as  the  promised  heir;  and  as  the  boy  had  talent 


190  GENESIS 

and  resolution,  which  came  to  him  from  both  his  parents,  Abram 
was  more  and  more  delighted  with  his  son.  Sarai  could  in- 
terpose no  difhculty  whatever,  in  spite  of  her  jealousy  of  her 
handmaid;  because  the  proposal  had  been  her  own,  that  Abraham, 
by  this  expedient,  should  obtain  the  fulfilment  of  the  divine 
promise;  and  Sarai  had  already  obtained  the  accomplishment 
of  her  wishes — a  son  and  heir  by  Hagar  her  slave.  Hagar,  in 
spite  of  the  undeceiving  which  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  had  given 
her  (ch.  16:  12),  could  not  fail  to  participate  in  the  illusion 
which  was  common  to  both  her  master  and  mistress.  So  thirteen 
years  of  roseate  illusions  had  passed  for  her  and  her  son  Ish- 
mael: — not  Eliezer  of  Damascus,  then,  but  Ishmael  was  to  be 
the  heir  of  Abraham!  Fourteen  or  fifteen  years  had  passed  since 
the  preceding  revelation  (ch.  15:  1),  when  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  Ishmael,  Jehovah  deigned  to  favor  his  servant  and 
friend  with  still  another  revelation;  which  came  to  overturn  all 
his  calculations  and  change  all  his  plans.  Let  the  children 
of  Abraham  learn,  in  their  father,  that  the  God  of  the  covenanted 
promises  fulfils  his  designs  and  not  ours,  and  overturns  our 
projects  in  the  most  strange  and  unlooked-for  manner,  after 
leaving  us  to  enjoy  them  in  anticipation,  for  a  long  season,  aa 
already  certain;  and  all  this  to  try  our  faith,  as  silver  is  tried, 
and  to  produce  in  us  an  unlimited  confidence  in  the  omnipotent 
power,  the  watchful  providence,  the  infinite  wisdom  and  the  inex- 
haustible love  of  God. 

Another  revelation,  therefore,  God  now  granted  to  his  serv- 
ant Abraham;  but  in  a  different  form  from  the  vision  he  last 
had.  On  this  occasion  we  are  told  that  "Jehovah  appeared 
to  Abraham";  Heb.  "Jehovah  was  seen  to  Abraham."  The  in- 
ference is  irresistible  that  this  was  with  a  visible  manifestation 
of  his  glory  (perhaps  like  the  first  he  ever  had,  p.  145),  and 
not  in  the  form  of  a  man  as  in  ch.  18:  1,  2;  because  Abraham, 
when  he  heard  the  first  words  which  he  spoke  to  him,  fell  upon 
his  face,  and  thus  he  remained  while  God  conversed  with 
him;  the  case  reminding  us  of  Moses  in  the  presence  of  the 
Angel  of  the  Burning  Bush,  where  Jehovah  commanded  him 
to  "take  off  his  shoes  from  off  his  feet,  because  the  place 
where  he  stood  was  holy  ground;  and  Moses  hid  his  face,  for 
he  was  afraid  to  look  upon  God."  Ex.  3:  2 — 6.  We  ought  not 
to  pass  unnoticed  indications  of  this  sort,  in  studying  the  dif- 
ferent manners  in  which  the  true  God  began  to  reveal  himself 
in  a  world  which  had  completely  forgotten  him.  "I  am  God  Al- 
mighty; walk  before  me  and  be  thou  perfect!"  was  the  an- 
nouncement   with    which    Jehovah    made    himself    known;    and 


CHAPTER  17:  1—8  191 

almost  in  the  same  form  that  he  made  himself  known  to 
Moses.  On  hearing  the  voice,  Abram  fell  upon  his  face.  "Walk 
before  me  and  be  thou  perfect,"  reminds  us  of  Enoch  who 
"walked  with  God"  (ch.  5:  24),  and  of  Job,  who  "was  perfect  and 
upright,  a  man  that  feared  God  and  turned  away  from  evil." 
Job  1:  1.  That  covenant  which  was  solemnly  ratified  in  ch.  15:  18 
is  the  thing  which  in  this  interview  occupies  the  prominent 
place.  We  have  traced  the  promise  of  redemption,  in  its  constant 
unfolding,  down  to  the  times  of  Noah,  and  now  of  Abraham. 
This  promise  450  years  after  the  flood  was  expressly  deposited 
In  the  hands  of  Abraham  and  his  seed,  and  after  several  repeti- 
tions was  confirmed  by  a  formal  and  solemn  covenant;  with 
emphatic  mention  of  the  land  of  promise;  including  neverthe- 
less, the  promise  of  the  redemption  "of  the  world,"  of  which 
Abraham  and  his  seed  were  to  become  "the  heirs"  (Rom.  4:  13); 
and  with  regard  to  which  promise  we  are  for  the  first  time  told 
that  "Abraham  believed  in  Jehovah,  and  he  counted  it  to  him  for 
righteousness."     Ch.  15:  6. 

Here  Jehovah  establishes  anew  the  covenant,  and  at  the  same 
time  amplifies  and  unfolds  the  promise,  which  the  covenant 
carried  in  its  bosom,  not  as  a  covenant  of  works  and  a  temporal 
covenant,  but  on  the  contrary,  as  God  says  expressly:  •  "I  will 
establish  my  covenant  between  me  and  thee  and  thy  seed  after 
thee,  throughout  their  generations,  for  an  everlasting  covenant, 
to  be  a  God  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee"  Vr.  7.  He 
changed  his  name  from  "Abram"  (=  exalted  father),  into  "Abra- 
ham" (=  exalted  father  of  a  multitude);  promising  him,  not 
merely  that  his  seed  should  be  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  as  the 
dust  of  the  earth,  but  that  he  should  be  the  father  of  a  multitude 
of  nations;  and  this  was  signified  and  commemorated  in  the  new 
name  which  he  gave  him  together  with  the  promise.  The 
change  of  name,  or  the  receiving  of  a  new  name,  signifies  In 
Holy  Scripture,  some  marked  change  in  the  character,  condition, 
office,  or  destiny  of  the  person  concerned;  as  will  be  seen  in  the 
case  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  vrs.  5,  15;  of  Jacob,  ch.  32:  28;  of 
Gideon,  Jud.  6:  32;  of  Simon  Peter,  John  1:  42;  Matt.  16:  18;  and 
of  Paul,  Acts  13:9.  Comp.  Isa.  62:2,  4,  12;  Jer.  33:16;  Rev. 
2:  17;  3:  12. 

Thus  God  gave  to  Abraham,  to  him  and  to  his  seed  after 
him,  "the  land  of  his  sojournings,  to  wit,  all  the  land  of  Canaan, 
for  an  everlasting  possession";  but  a  possession  for  one  nation 
only.  Yet  Abraham,  in  addition  to  this,  was  to  be  the  "father  of 
a  multitude  of  nations" ;  who  undoubtedly  are  "all  the  families 
and  nations  of  the  earth,  that  were  to  be  blessed  in  him."    Ch. 


192  GENESIS 

12:  3;  18:  18.  Ishmael  was  already  born,  and  was  then  thirteen 
years  of  age;  so  we  see,  in  a  moment,  that  the  covenant  was  not 
made  with  reference  to  him.  And  Ishmael  being  excluded,  for  the 
same  cause  and  with  equal  reason  must  be  excluded  the  other 
sons  whom  Abraham  had  by  that  other  concubine,  Keturah, 
before  Isaac  was  born.  See  comments  on  ch.  25:  1,  2.  And 
If  these,  then  with  equal  reason  must  be  excluded  his  grand- 
son, the  worldly  Esau,  who  sold  his  birthright  for  a  mess  of 
pottage.  But  this  reduces  our  account  again  to  t'he  single  Jewish 
nation,  with  its  narrow  and  limited  land  of  Canaan,  or  Pales- 
tine; which  in  its  greatest  dimensions  was  some  150  miles 
long  and  seventy-five  or  eighty  miles  broad,  on  both  sides  of  the 
river  Jordan;  which  in  fact  that  nation  had  in  possession  for  1400 
years;  although  for  eighteen  centuries  the  Jews  have  been  dis- 
possessed of  it. 

But  the  same  reason  that  there  was  for  eliminating  Ishmael 
and  the  sons  of  Keturah,  together  with  the  worldly  Esau, 
operates  with  equal  force  to  exclude  the  worldly,  wicked  and 
unbelieving  of  Israel  also;  as  John  the  Baptist  preached:  "And 
think  not  to  say  within  ourselves:  We  have  Abraham  for 
our  father;  for  I  say  unto  you  that  of  these  stones  God  is 
able  to  raise  up  children  unto  Abraham."  Matt.  3:  9.  Jesus 
also  said  to  them:  "If  ye  were  Abraham's  children,  ye  would 
do  the  works  of  A'braham";  and  again:  "If  God  were  your 
father,  ye  would  love  me;  because  I  proceeded  and  came  forth 
from  God;  for  I  came  not  of  myself,  but  he  sent  me.  *  *  • 
Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of  your  father 
it  is  of  your  will  to  do."  John  8:  39,  42,  44.  And  this  brings 
us  to  the  same  conclusion  as  Paul,  where  he  says  (Rom.  9:  6 — 8) : 
"All  are  not  Israel,  that  are  of  Israel;  neither,  because  they  are 
Abraham's  seed  are  they  all  children;  but:  In  Isaac  shall 
thy  seed  be  called.  That  is,  it  is  not  the  children  of  the  flesh  that 
are  the  children  of  God;  but  the  children  of  the  promise  are 
reckoned  for  seed."  It  is  clear  from  this  that  we  have  to 
look  beyond  the  surface  of  things  and  their  mere  exteriority, 
in  order  to  penetrate  the  true  meaning  and  wonderful  reach 
of  this  great  promise.  For  if  the  wicked,  worldly  and  unbe- 
lieving Jews,  and  such  as  were  mere  formalists  (like  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees),  not  being  children  of  God  in  spirit  and  truth, 
were  not  the  "children  of  Abraham,  and  heirs  according  to  the 
promise,"  still  less  can  be  accounted  such  those  so-called  "Chris- 
tians" who  are  in  identically  the  same  case,  and  who  are  not 
the  children  of  Abraham  either  according  to  the  flesh,  or  ac- 
cording to  the  spirit.     It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  "the  multitude 


CHAPTER  17:  1—8  193 

of  nations'"  of  whom  Abraham  was  to  be  "the  father"  are  xot 
THE  NATIONS  OF  "THIS  PRESENT  EVIL  woi'.LD,  from  which  Christ 
gave  himself  to  deliver  us,  according  to  the  will  of  our  God 
and  Father"  (Gal.  1:  5);  but  rather  the  "nations  of  those  toho 
keep  the  truth"  (Isa.  26:  2) — who  "seek  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  his  righteousness" — the  nations  of  the  sanctified,  resurrected 
and  saved.  Rev.  21:  24 — 2G;  22:  2.  There  is  a  growing  tendency 
in  our  day  to  confound  Christianity  ivith  Christian  Civilization, 
(as  in  the  days  of  Constantine  *),  and  "the  hope  of  our  calling" 
with  the  "regeneration  of  society."  No  mistake  could  be  greater. 
But  it  is  certainly  a  most  interesting  fact  that  no  nation,  nor 
people,  nor  tribe  of  the  natural  descendants  of  Abraham  is 
idolatrous;  all,  without  any  exception,  are  monotheists,  and  pro- 
fess after  their  manner  the  exclusive  worship  of  the  God  of 
Abraham; — more  truly  monotheists,  from  every  point  of  view, 
than  the  Roman  Catholic  nations,  which,  while  professing  mono- 
theism, have  resuscitated  and  baptized  with  the  name  of  "Chris- 
tianity" the  ancient  idolatry  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  in  the 
worship  of  their  canonized  saints,  who  are  in  effect,  though  not 
In  name,  "gods"  and  "goddesses"  and  the  favorite  objects  of 
the  worship  of  all  classes  of  the  people.  But  which,  and  how 
many,  are  the  nations  that  derive  their  lineal  descent  from 
the  loins  of  Abraham,  or  their  religious  faith  from  the  son 
of  Hagar?  Jews,  Arabians,  nomadic  Bedouins,  Turks,  Turcomans, 
Egyptians,  Afghans,  Moroccans,  Algerians,  and  who  else?  "The 
father  of  a  multitude  of  nations  I  have  made  thee,"  says  the 
promise.  It  is  evident  that  this  does  not  mean  the  English 
nation,  nor  the  German,  nor  the  Dutch,  nor  the  Swedish,  nor 
the  American,  of  those  called  Protestant;  and  still  less  those 
who  are  called  Roman  Catholic,  where  reign  the  "canonized 
saints,"  and  Moses  and  the  Prophets  and  the  Apostles,  except  In 
name,  are  almost  unknown. 

Well  then,  if  the  nations  already  Christianized  cannot  figure 
In  the  list  of  "children  of  Abraham  and  heirs  according  to 
the  promise,"  that  "multitude  of  nations"  cannot  have  refer- 
ence to  the  future  Christianization  of  all  the  other  nations:  this 
Is  undeniable.  But  Paul,  by  divine  inspiration,  explains  and 
comments  at  length  on  this  and  the  associated  promises,  in  Rom. 
4:  9 — 25,  where  he  speaks  as  follows:  "For  not  through  the 
Law  was  the  promise  to  Abraham  or  to  his  seed,  that  he  should 
BE  HEiE  OF  THE  WORLD  {Gr.  kosmos),  but  through  the  righteous- 
ness of  faith.     .     .     .     For  this  cause  it  is  of  faith,  that  it  may 

•See  Eusebius  Pamphilius  "Panegyric  on  the  Splendor  of  Our  Affairs." 
Eccl.  Hist.  Book  X.  Ch.  4.— Tr. 


194  GENESIS 

be  according  to  grace,  to  the  end  that  the  promise  [the  promise 
that  he  should  he  the  heir  of  the  world — no  other  is  mentioned] 
may  be  sure  unto  all  the  seed;  not  to  that  only  which  is  of  the 
Jaw,  but  to  that  also  which  is  of  the  faith  of  Abraham  (—  the 
Gospel),  who  is  the  father  of  us  all  (as  it  is  written:  A  father 
of  many  nations  have  I  made  thee),  before  him  whom  he  be- 
lieved, even  God,  who  giveth  life  to  the  dead,  and  calleth  the 
things  that  are  not  as  though  they  were.  Who  in  hope  be- 
lieved against  hope,  to  the  end  that  he  might  become  the  father 
of  many  nations,  according  to  that  which  had  been  spoken:  So 
(like  the  stars),  shall  thy  seed  be."  Rom.  4:  13 — 18.  When 
"the  kingdom  of  God  is  indeed  come,  and  his  will  is  done  on 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven"*  (Matt.  6:  10);  when  are  inaugurated 
the  "new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  right- 
eousness" (2  Pet.  3:13);  when  "the  Lamb  of  God  has  in  fact 
taken  away  the  sin  of  the  world,"  and  there  is  none  left  (John 
1:29);  when  the  Christ  of  God,  his  promised  Messiah  and 
World-Deliverer,  has  indeed  "put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of 
himself"  (Heb.  9:  23);  when  he  shall  have  "finished  the  trans- 
gression, and  made  an  end  of  sins,  and  brought  in  everlasting 
righteousness"  (Dan.  9:  24);  when  he  has  "swallowed  up  death 
forever,  and  wiped  away  tears  from  all  faces,  and  taken  away 

♦The  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism  (Q.  102)  says  that  under  the 
second  petition  of  the  Lord's  Trayer,  we  pray  (last  of  all)  "that  the 
Idngdom  of  glory  may  fte  hastened" — a  matter  about  which  few  Christians 
in  our  day  concern  themselves,  "the  conversion  of  the  world"  having  come 
to  talie  its  place,  as  the  great  Hope  of  the  future.  The  Larger  Catechism 
(Q.  191)  Is  more  explicit,  and  says  "we  pray  that  Christ  would  hasten 
the  time  of  his  second  coming  and  our  reigning  with  Him  forever" — 
about  which  we  are  not  thinking  much,  although  Paul  wrote  to  the 
worldly  and  boasting  Corinthians :  "I  would  to  God  ye  did  reign,  that  we 
also  might  reign  with  you  !"     1  Cor.  4  :  8. 

The  reader  may  not  be  aware  of  the  fact  that  our  common  doctrine 
of  "The  Millennium,"  called  Post-millenarianism,  in  our  day,  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  Pre-millenarlanism,  was  a  thing  unheard  of  in  the 
times  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  (1643-1G48).  The  great  John  Howe, 
reputed  father  of  the  doctrine,  was  but  a  beardless  youth  when  that 
Assembly  met ;  and  it  was  50  or  60  years  later  when  Daniel  Whitby 
modestly  presented  it  as  "A  NEW  HYPOTHESIS."  See  Appendix  to 
Commentary  of  Patrick,  Lowth  and  Whitby.  Jonathan  Edwards  worked 
It  out  fully  in  his  History  of  Redemption,  and  the  Commentator,  Thomaa 
Scott  (Rev.  ch.  20),  diffused  it  throughout  the  Engish-speaking  world; 
so  that  people  now  speak  of  it  as  "the  old  orthodox  doctrine,"  in  dis- 
tinction from  the  novelties  of  Pre-millenarianism !  Joseph  Milner,  a 
contemporary  of  Thomas  Scott,  speaks  of  it  as  a  modification  of  the  old 
Chiliasm  of  the  second  and  third  centuries — putting  the  Millennium 
before  rather  than  after  the  Second  Advent — "revived  and  confirmed  with 
much  clearer  light  in  our  days."     Church  History,  Vol.  1,  page  357. — Tr. 


CHAPTER  17:  1—8  195 

the  reproach  of  his  people  from  off  all  the  earth"  (Isa.  25:  8); 
when  the  wicked  shall  have  gone  awat  Into  everlasting  punish- 
ment, and  the  righteous  been  placed  in  possession  of  "the  king- 
dom, prepared  for  them  (the  just)  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world"  (Matt.  25:34 — 46);  "when  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord 
shall  return  and  shall  come  unto  Zion  with  songs,  and  ever- 
lasting joy  shall  be  upon  their  heads,  when  they  shall  obtain 
joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away" — for- 
ever (Isa.  35:  10);  when  "the  nations  (of  the  redeemed)  shall 
walk  in  the  light  of  the  New  Jerusalem,"  come  down  from 
heaven  to  earth,  and  there  is  no  more  curse,  nor  groaning,  nor 
sorrow,  nor  tears,  because  the  former  things  have  passed  away; 
when  all  the  redeemed  and  saved  shall  again  have  "a  right  to 
the  tree  of  life,"  and  to  eat  of  its  fruit  (see  ch.  3:  22,  24),  and 
the  leaves  of  the  tree  shall  be  for  the  healing  of  the  nations" 
(Rev,  chs.  21  and  22); — then  shall  be  seen  and  experienced  the 
plentitude  of  meaning  comprised  in  this  great  promise  given  to 
Abraham;  and  in  fact,  "all  the  nations  and  all  the  families 
of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  in  him";  and  the  Seed  of  the  Woman, 
the  great  Descendant  of  Abraham,  and  the  greater  Son  ot 
David,  shall  be  proclaimed  "the  Saviour  of  the  World."  Right 
well  has  John  said,  as  the  summing  up  of  the  Gospel:  "We  have 
seen  and  do  testify  that  THE  FATHER  SENT  THE  SON  TO 
BE  THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD."*  1  John  4:  14.  "In  thee 
and  in  thy  Seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 

There  is  no  U.NiVEnsALiSM  in  this.  Though  it  is  commonly  assumed, 
in  theological  discussions,  that  "the  world,"  "the  whole  world,"  means  all 
mankind,  the  icholc  race  of  Adam,  it  is  but  a  gratuitous  assumption. 
"The  world,"  "the  whole  world,"  never  means  that  either  in  Scripture  or 
In  common  parlance ;  but  rather  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants.  When 
we  speak  of  "the  whole  world,"  we  do  not  include  Cain,  or  Abel,  or  Nim- 
rod,  or  Abraham,  or  David,  or  Nebuchadnezzer,  or  Julius  Caesar ;  the 
DEAD  ARE  COUNTED  OUT.  And  SO,  When  "the  world,"  "the  whole  world," 
is  saved,  the  lost  will  be  counted  out;  as  Peter  preached  (and  as  a 
hundred  Scriptures  declare)  :  "And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  every  soul 
that  will  not  hearken  unto  that  Prophet,  shall  he  destroyed  from  among 
the  people."  Acts  3 :  23.  "The  people"  will  be  saved,  "but  the  wicked 
shall  be  cut  off  from  the  earth,  and  the  transgressors  shall  be  rooted  out 
of  it.  Prov.  2 :  22.  Intelligent  and  decisive  choice  between  these  two 
only  alternatives  is  what  saints  and  sinners  should  be  alike  urged  per- 
sistently to  make,  in  the  words  of  Moses,  the  man  of  God,  to  the  people 
of  his  day,  in  Deut.  30  :  19.  And  it  is  just  here  that  the  modern  pulpit 
eeems  to  be  most  grievously  blameworthy. — Tr. 


196  GENESIS 

17:  9 — 14.       ABRAHAM    EECEB'ES    CIRCUMCISION    AS    A    SIGN    AND    g£AL 
OF   THE  COVENANT   MADE  BY  GOD  WITH  HIM.       (1897    B.   C) 

9  And  God  said  unto  Abraham,  And  as  for  thee,  thou  shalt  keep 
my  covenant,  thou,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  throughout  their  gener- 
ations. 

10  This  is  my  covenant,  which  ye  shall  keep,  between  me  and  you 
and  thy  seed  after  thee :  every  male  among  you  shall  be  circum- 
cised. 

11  And  ye  shall  be  circumcised  in  the  flesh  of  your  foreskin ;  and 
it  shall  be  a  token  of  a  covenant  betwixt  me  and  you. 

12  And  he  that  is  eight  days  old  shall  be  circumcised  among  you, 
every  male  throughout  your  generations,  he  that  is  born  in  the  house, 
or  bought  with  money  of  any  foreigner  that  is  not  of  thy  seed. 

13  He  that  is  born  in  thy  house,  and  he  that  is  bought  with  thy 
money,  must  needs  be  circumcised :  and  my  covenant  shall  be  in  your 
flesh  for  an  everlasting  covenant. 

14  And  the  uncircumcised  male  who  is  not  circumcised  in  the 
flesh  of  his  foreskin,  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  his  people ;  he 
hath  broken  my  covenant. 

The  rite  of  circumcision  was  the  sign  and  seal  of  the  cove- 
nant made  with  Abraham,  for  him  and  for  his  posterity  (eh. 
15:  18;  17:  2);  and  it  remained  in  constant  use  among  the  pro- 
fessed people  of  God,  "for  a  sign  (said  God)  of  the  covenant 
between  me  and  you"  (vr.  11),  until  the  time  when  they  con- 
demned and  put  to  death  Jesus,  the  Christ  of  God.  He  then 
"broke  his  covenant  which  he  had  made  with  all  the  peoples" 
("with  all  the  tribes,"  the  M.  S.  V.  has  it,  and  Leeser's  Jewish 
Version,  Zech.  11:  10);  and  Christ,  having  risen  from  the  dead, 
instituted  another  sign  and  seal  for  the  same  purpose,  which  he 
commanded  to  be  applied  to  all  his  people,  men  and  women 
alike:  and  although,  when  the  unbelieving  Jews  put  their  cir- 
cumcision in  antagonism  with  the  gospel,  and  entrenched  them- 
selves behind  it,  in  order  to  discard  their  own  Messiah  and 
the  salvation  promised  to  Abraham,  Paul  treated  it  as  a  car- 
nal rite,  useless  and  even  pernicious  (Gal.  5:  1 — 4),  he  him- 
self teaches  us  that  in  its  beginning  God  gave  to  Abraham  "the 
sign  of  circumcision  as  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the  faith 
which  he  had,  being  yet  uncircumcised."  Rom.  4:  11.  Moses 
also  and  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  the 
apostles  of  the  New,  use  the  word  "circumcision"  symbolically 
in  a  spiritual  and  evangelical  sense;  and  even  contemned  the 
external  rite,  when  used  apart  from  this,  its  legitimate  and 
proper  meaning.  Deut.  10:  16;  30:  6;  Jer,  4:  4;  10:  26;  Acts 
7:  51;  Rom.  2:  25,  28,  29;  Col.  2:  11, 

Putting  the  sign  for  the  thing  signified,  circumcision  in  vr. 
10,  represents  the  covenant  of  which  it  was  the  seal;  and  in 
vr.  13  Jehovah  said  that  by  this  means  they  should  carry  the 
covenant  of  their  God   in  their  very  flesh,  and   threatened   the 


CHAPTER  17:  9—14  107 

uncircumcised  male  with  the  penalty  of  being  cut  off  from  the 
pale  of  his  people.  This  in  a  strict  sense  is  understood  of 
capital  punishment,  in  the  case  of  a  proud  contempt  of  this 
institution  of  God;  as  is  seen  in  such  contempt  on  the  part 
of  Zipporah,  the  wife  of  Moses,  which  came  near  costing  him 
his  life,  at  the  very  time  he  was  about  to  enter  on  his  mission 
as  the  prophet  and  liberator  of  his  people.  (Ex.  4:  24 — 26);  or 
in  less  aggravated  cases,  it  was  to  be  taken  in  a  more  spiritual 
sense,  as  Peter  uses  it  in  Acts  3:  23,  for  excision  from  the 
Church  and  people  of  God.  All  the  people,  or  most  of  them, 
in  passing  their  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  went  without 
circumcision  (Josh.  5:5 — 7);  and  although  the  reason  given 
for  this  does  not  present  itself  to  us  as  conclusive  nor  satis- 
factory, with  regard  to  infants  of  eight  days  old,  it  is  clear 
that  it  was  not  done  through  contempt,  and  was  allowed  to  pass 
under  the  eyes  of  Moses  himself. 

The  law  which  thus  threatened  capital  punishment  against  the 
uncircumcised  male,  prescribed  that  the  rite  was  not  to  he  ad- 
ministered before  the  child  ivas  eight  days  old.  It  is  clear, 
therefore,  that  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  salvation  of  in- 
fants, of  whom  multitudes  died  before  they  were  eight  days 
old,  and  of  necessary  consequence,  uncircumcised.  The  rite, 
then,  had  no  efficacy  whatever  to  impart  grace  and  salvation 
to  those  who  received  it,  nor  did  the  lack  of  it  operate  to  the 
spiritual  hurt  of  those  who  died  without  it;  as  happened 
in  the  case  of  the  vast  uncircumcised  multitudes  (Josh.  5:  5) 
who  died  in  the  desert,  as  well  as  the  many  millions  of  Israelit- 
Ish  children  who  died  before  they  were  eight  days  old;  and  this 
circumstance  comes  to  shed  a  flood  of  light  on  the  anti-chris- 
tian  dogma  of  taptismal  regeneration,  and  the  fate  of  the  in- 
fants who  die  without  baptism.  The  Old  Testament,  therefore, 
teaches  plainly  that  rites  and  ceremonies  cannot  communicate 
grace  and  salvation.  But  Roman  Catholics  and  all  Ritualists 
maintain  that  Christ  communicated  this  special  virtue  to  the 
sacraments  in  general,  and  to  baptism  in  particular,  making  them 
the  exclusive  channels  of  his  grace;  and  making  that  grace  de- 
pendent on  the  secret  will  and  intention  of  the  officiating  priest!* 

•A  singular  but  unavoidable  consequence  of  all  this  is  that  no  member 
of  that  Church,  from  Tope  Leo  X  down  to  the  humblest  peasant,  is,  or 
can  be,  infallibly  sure  that  he  icas  ever  hapti-ed .'  I  baptized  a  lady 
In  the  City  of  Bogoti'i,  S.  A.,  who  was  baptized  as  an  infant  in  Cflcuta, 
when  the  priest  was  so  drunk  that  her  mother  could  never  be  sure  that 
he  had  any  intention  at  nil'  So  distressed  was  she  about  this,  that 
when  the  family  removed  to  Bogotfl.  at  her  urgent  instance  the  child 
was  re-baptized  by  Archbishop  Ilerran.  When  converted  to  the  belief 
and  obedience  of  the  Gospel,  I  re-baptized  her  still  again,  overcoming 
finally  her  ob.irrtinns  with  the  statement  that  the  Archbishop  himself 
did  not  have  the  right  intention. — Tr. 


198  GENESIS 

On  a  certain,  occasion  I  was  treating  of  this  subject  with  an 
Intelligent  priest  and  theological  professor  in  Colombia,  S.  A. 
and  I  put  the  case  to  him  in  this  shape:  "So  you  say,  Doctor,  that 
the  children  who  die  without  baptism  are  lost?"  He  reminded 
me  that  Roman  Catholics  hold  also  to  a  baptism  of  blood  and 
a  baptism  of  fire,  which  serve  the  same  purpose  as  that  of 
water.  I  answered  that  the  baptism  of  blood  would  not  suit  their 
case,  as  they  did  not  die  by  martyrdom;  nor  that  of  ardent  desire 
either,  as  it  is  a  matter  of  entire  indifference  with  them  whether 
you  baptize  them  or  not;  so  that  water  baptism  is  the  only 
one  available  in  their  case;  and  therefore  I  repeated  my  ques- 
tion whether  they  perish  for  lack  of  baptism? — "Yes,  Sir!"  he 
replied. — "How  then,"  I  asked,  "did  it  fare  with  the  little  ones 
who  died  before  Christ?  All  the  women,  and  the  male  children 
of  less  than  eight  days,  died  uncircumcised;  and  besides  these, 
numberless  millions  of  pagan  children  died  without  circumcision, 
and  without  baptism,  of  course." — "They  were  saved,"  he  an- 
swered me;  "passing,  however,  through  limbo,  whence  Jesus 
liberated  them,  when  he  'descended  into  hell,'  between  his  death 
and  his  resurrection." — "But  in  any  case  they  were  saved,  sooner 
or  later;  and  they  were  saved,  male  and  female,  circumcised  and 
uncircumcised,  Jews  and  pagans  alike?" — "Yes,  Sir,  they  were 
all  saved." — "Well  then.  Doctor,  permit  me  to  ask  whether 
Christ  came  to  bless  or  to  curse  the  little  ones?  Jesus  said  (be- 
fore he  had  instituted  Christian  baptism,  and  consequently  he 
said  it  of  unbaptized  children) :  'Suffer  the  little  children  to 
come  unto  me  and  forbid  them  not;  for  of  such  is  the  king- 
dom of  God'  (Mark  10:  14);  and  yet  you  affirm  that  all  infants 
were  saved  who,  before  Christ,  died  without  baptism  and  with- 
out circumcision;  but  that  from  that  time  to  this  nine-tenths 
or  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  them  have  perished,  for  the  lack  of 
somebody  to  'put  water  on  them'  [the  common  expression]  in 
the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost! 
In  this  view  of  the  case.  Sir,  it  appears  to  me  that,  in  so  far 
as  concerns  the  little  ones,  it  were  better  if  he  had  not  come  till 
now!  Tell  me,  therefore,  if  he  came  to  bless  or  to  curse  the 
little  ones?"  The  good  man  found  himself  cornered,  and  whether 
from  conviction,  or  whether  (as  is  most  likely)  to  put  a  stop 
to  a  conversation  which  was  becoming  inconvenient,  he  agreed 
with  me  that  all  unbaptized  infants  who  have  died  in  infancy 
were  saved  through  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whether 
before  Christ  or  after  Christ,  and  whether  of  Jewish  parentage, 
or  Mohammedan,  or  Christian,  or  pagan. 

[Visiting  a  priest  on  one  of  my  journeys,  he  deplored   very 


CHAPTER  17:  9—14  199 

frankly  the  vices  and  wide-spread  immoralities  of  the  people, 
notoriously  great  in  that  particular  city;  which  naturally  led  me 
to  speak  of  the  indispensable  necessity  of  having  the  "new  heart 
and  right  spirit"  which  the  Holy  Ghost  alone  can  put  within  us, — 
experiencing  that  "new  birth,"  or  being  "born  from  above,"  with- 
out which,  as  Jesus  teaches  in  John  3:  3 — 5,  we  "cannot  see  the 
kingdom  of  God."  To  this  he  readily  assented;  but  he  spoiled  it 
all  by  saying  that  this  great  change  is  wrought  in  baptism,  which 
washes  away  all  sin  and  implants  all  grace.  I  put  this  doctrine 
of  his  Church  to  a  practical  test  by  reminding  him  that  we 
lived  in  a  country  of  three  or  four  millions  of  people,  every  one 
of  whom  was  a  baptized  Roman  Catholic, — a  "regenerate  person," 
according  to  their  religion;  and  inquired  what  they  had  done 
with  so  much  "grace"  which  they  had  all  received;  to  which  he 
replied:  "They  have  lost  it,  Sir!"  On  this  I  remarked  that  it 
seemed  to  me  that  a  "grace"  so  easily  gained  and  so  universally 
lost  was  not  worth  going  very  far  to  find!  He  said  that  might 
be  so,  but  such  was  the  teaching  of  his  Church. 

On  another  occasion  I  was  talking  with  a  very  handsome  and 
Intelligent  young  man,  with  none  too  much  religion  of  any  kind, 
who,  pointing  across  the  lake  to  some  cattle  three  or  four 
miles  away,  said  to  me:  "That  cattle  yonder  is  badly  infested 
with  the  wolf  (a  grub  or  larva  hatched  under  the  skin  from  an 
egg  deposited  by  a  species  of  gadfly) ;  but  I  know  a  little  prayer 
about  SO  LONG  (indicating  an  inch  or  two  on  his  finger)  by 
the  use  of  which  I  can  stand  here  and  extirpate  completely  that 
plague  in  the  cattle!"  I  curiously  scanned  my  man  to  see 
whether  he  was  the  fool  to  believe  this,  or  whether  he  thought 
it  was  I.  He  said  in  reply  that  it  was  a  fact,  and  that  there 
were  other  persons  around — especially  among  the  priests — who 
had  that  happy  faculty,  which,  said  he,  "I  also  possess!"  It 
was  but  natural  to  ask  him,  why  then  he  did  not  make  his  for- 
tune at  it! — for  on  the  vast  plains  of  the  Casanare,  a  tributary 
of  the  Orinoco,  and  in  other  cattle-raising  sections  of  Colombia, 
the  "wolf"  is  the  one  great  enemy  of  the  stock-raiser,  except  for 
which,  as  they  told  me,  there  would  be  no  end  to  the  cattle  that 
might  be  raised. 

On  the  same  journey,  a  well-to-do  countryman  was  talking  to 
me  of  the  same  matter,  and  told  me  of  a  certain  "padre"  who  had 
great  fame  in  those  parts  as  an  exterminator  of  the  "wolf,"  whom, 
after  many  failures,  he  at  last  induced  to  come  and  cure  his 
cattle.  So  he  prepared  a  sumptuous  breakfast  for  him,  and 
after  breakfast  the  "padre"  took  his  station  on  the  lawn,  where 
he  had  a  fair  view  of  the  stock  to  be  healed;   placing  then  his 


200  GENESIS 

book,  candles,  etc.,  on  a  table,  he  put  on  his  robes  and  was 
about  to  begin  the  performance,  when  about  11  o'clock  A.  M.  the 
earth  began  to  heave  responsively  to  the  earthquake  shock  which 
that  very  day  (May  18,  1875),  and  just  at  that  hour,  wiped  out 
completely  the  City  of  San  Jose  de  Cticuta,  200  miles  away,  a 
city  of  12,000  inhabitants,  in  one  moment  of  time,  burying  several 
thousand  people  beneath  the  heaps  of  ruins.  On  this,  the 
"padre"  naturally  desisted,  remarking  that  he  would  defer  the 
exorcism  of  the  cattle  for  a  more  propitious  occasion. 

Now  it  has  always  occurred  to  me  to  ask  which  of  the  two  was 
easier,  to  cure  cattle  of  the  "wolf"  by  means  of  a  little  prayer 
"about  SO  LONG,"  or  to  cure  men  of  original  and  actual  sin  by 
sprinkling  babies  (or  adults  either)  with  water  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost?  And  if  he  would  be  a 
"fool"  who  believes  the  one,  how  can  he  be  a  wise  man  who  ac- 
cepts and  believes  the  other?  Surely  Romanism  is  guilty  of  a 
heinous  "sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,"  in  teaching  the  nations 
subject  to  its  sway  that  there  is  no  other  "washing  of  regenera- 
tion and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  (Tit.  3:5),  except  what 
they  all  have  already  received  in  baptism!  and  that,  therefore, 
what  the  Protestants  have  to  say  about  the  necessity  of  the  "new 
birth,"  the  "being  born  from  on  high"  is  all  "bosh,"  or  a  non- 
sensical fanaticism!  It  is  to  be  observed,  and  the  reader  ought 
never  to  lose  sight  of  it,  that  the  diabolical  atrocities  committed 
against  the  poor  Jews  of  Russia  in  these  days  of  horrible 
butchery,  robbery  and  violence  (October — December,  1905),  are 
all  perpetrated  by  "regenerate  persons," — people  who  have  ex- 
perienced the  only  "regeneration"  held  and  taught  by  the  Greek 
and  Roman  Churches!  The  bitter  fruits  of  this  "sin  against  the 
Holy  Ghost"*  in  the  work  that  is  peculiarly  his  own,  fill  Russia 
and  every  Roman  Catholic  country  from  end  to  end. — Tr.] 

*In  a  conversation  on  this  subject  which  I  had  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  J. 
Addison  Alexander,  of  Princeton  Seminary,  that  portent  of  learning,  a  few 
weeks  before  his  lamented  and  untimely  death,  he  said  that  in  the  opinion 
of  some  very  great  men  the  distinctive  sin  of  Romanism  (as  such)  is  that 
of  "blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost"  ;  an  opinion  based  on  the  manner 
In  which  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  pretends  and  claims  to  appropriate 
to  Its  own  uses,  to  limit,  control  and  apply  at  its  pleasure  the  free  and 
sovereign  Spirit  of  God— free  as  the  winds  of  heaven,  John  3  :  8— shutting 
up  his  sanctifying  and  saving  influences  in  its  "seven  sacraments,"  to  be 
administered  or  withheld  according  to  the  will  and  intention  of  the  offi- 
ciating priest,  bishop  or  pope  ;  and  freely  attrihuting  to  the  devil  the  most 
precious  and  glorious  manifestations  of  his  presence  and  power  among 
Protestant  Christians.     See  Mark  3  :  28,  29. 


CHAPTER  17:  15—22  201 

17:  15 — 22.     GOD   pkomises   to   Abraham    a   son    by    sakah,    his 

PROPER   ANll   LEGITIMATE   WIFE,    WHO    SHOULD   BE   THE   HEIR   OF   THE 
COVENANTED   PROMISE.       (1897   B.   C.) 

15  And  God  said  unto  Abraham,  As  for  Sarai  thy  wife,  thou 
shalt  not  call  her  name  Sarai*,  but  Sarahf  shall  be  hei-  name. 

1(3  And  I  will  give  thee  a  son  of  her ;  yea,  I  will  bless  her,  and 
she  shall  be  a  mother  of  nations;   kings  of  peoples  shall  be  of  her. 

17  Then  Abraham  fell  upon  his  face,  and  laughed,  and  said  in 
his  heart,  Shall  a  child  be  born  unto  him  that  is  a  hundred  years 
old?  and  shall    Sarah,  that  is   ninety   years  old,  bear? 

18  And  Abraham  said  unto  God,  Oh  that  Ishmael  might  live  be- 
fore thee  ! 

19  And  God  said,  Nay,  but  Sarah  thy  wife  shall  bear  thee  a  son ; 
and  thou  shalt  call  his  name  Isaact :  and  I  will  establish  my  covenant 
with  him  for  an  everlasting  covenant  for  his  seed  after  him. 

20  And  as  for  Ishmael,  I  have  heard  thee  :  behold,  I  have  blessed 
him,  and  will  make  him  fruitful,  and  will  multiply  him  exceedingly; 
twelve  princes  shall  he  beget,  and  I  will  make  him  a  great  nation. 

21  But  my  covenant  will  I  establish  with  Isaac,  whom  Sarah 
shall  bear  unto  thee  at  this  set  time  in  the  next  year. 

22  And  he  left  off  talking  with  him,  and  God  went  up  from 
Abraham. 

[*=:My  Princess.]  [t= Princess.]  [$  =  Laughter.] 

Up  to  this  point  God  had  said  nothing  of  the  happy  change 
which  he  proposed  to  make  in  Sarai's  condition,  but  now  he 
directs  Abraham  to  change  her  name  from  Sarai  into  Sarah, — 
the  first  intimation  which  .Abraham  had  of  the  part  she  was 
to  take  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  divine  promise.  As  has  been 
already  said  (p.  140),  it  is  probable  that  among  her  own 
people,  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  Iscah  had  been  her  name,  and 
that  on  marrying  Abraham,  or  on  setting  out  for  Canaan,  her 
name  was  changed  to  Sarai  (=  "My  princess");  for  it  is  easy 
to  believe  that  this  was  a  pet  name  which  Abraham  had  given 
to  this  woman  of  extraordinary  beauty.  But  now  God  says 
to  him  that  thenceforward  he  should  call  her  Sarah  {=.  Princess) ; 
as  if  to  indicate  that  with  this  change  in  her  hopes  and  in  her 
state,  that  distinction  which  she  had  borne  for  a  single  in- 
dividual should  cease,  and  she  should  become  a  "Princess"  in 
a  larger  sense,  and  for  a  numerous  posterity.  Sarah  had  already 
abandoned  all  hope  of  becoming  a  mother,  resigning  herself, 
with  ill-grace,  to  the  hard  necessity  of  seeing  the  son  of  her 
slave  put  in  possession  of  what  for  many  years  she  had  dreamed 
•would  be  the  inheritance  of  children  of  her  own.  But  Ishmael 
was  now  thirteen  years  old,  and  Abraham  and  all  the  patriarchal 
encampment  recognized  him  as  the  heir  of  his  father.  She  was 
close  on  ninety  years,  and  Abraham  was  ninety  and  nine.  If 
God  was  ever  going  to  confer  on  her  so  great  a  happiness,  why 
had  he  not  done  so  in  the  thirty  or  thirty-five  years  which  had 
elapsed  since  he  first  called  her  husband,  in  Ur  of  the  Chal- 


202  GENESIS 

dees?  What  remedy,  then,  was  there,  except  to  resign  her- 
self to  her  hard  lot,  and  submit  to  the  inevitable?  This  would 
not  be  for  lack  of  faith,  because  God  had  never  promised  that 
Sarah  should  he  a  mother,  and  her  own  expedient  for  giving 
fulfilment  to  the  divine  promise,  by  bearing  children  to  Abra- 
ham in  the  person  of  her  slave,  Hagar,  seemed  to  shut  every 
door  of  hope  for  its  fulfilment  in  her  own  person.  But  now, 
for  the  first  time,  God  says  to  Abraham  of  Sarai:  "I  will  bless 
her,  and  moreover  I  will  give  thee  a  son  of  her;  yea,  I  will  blesa 
her,  and  she  shall  be  a  another  of  natioyis;  kings  of  peoples  shall 
be  of  her."  The  laugh  of  Abraham,  and  his  exclamation  of 
surprise,  in  vr.  17,  do  not  express  unbelief  on  his  part.  His  emo- 
tions would  rather  be  a  mixture  of  wonder  and  rejoicing,  which 
expressed  themselves  in  this  unusual  manner,  in  the  presence  of 
his  God;  but  it  was  eminently  natural.  With  perfect  natural- 
ness, Luke,  on  relating  the  first  appearance  of  Jesus  in  the 
midst  of  his  disciples,  after  his  resurrection,  says  that  after 
he  had  shown  them  his  hands  and  his  feet,  "while  they  yet 
"believed  not  for  joy,  and  wondered,"  Jesus  took  a  piece  of  a 
broiled  fish  and  did  eat  before  them.  Luke  24:  41 — 43.  Such 
would  appear  to  have  been  the  state  of  Abraham's  mind  at 
this  juncture.  For  the  space  of  thirteen  years  he  had  believed 
that  he  had  the  promise  of  a  son  already  fulfilled  in  Ishmael, 
whom  he  loved,  and  in  whom  he  centered  many  hopes;  and  he 
replied  to  that  divine  announcement  with  the  exclamation:  "Oh 
that  Ishmael  might  live  before  thee!" 

It  seems  that  he  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  boy,  and 
did  not  look  for  any  other  son  in  fulfilment  of  the  promise.  But 
it  was  not  a  skilful  huntsman,  or  a  valiant  warrior,  "whose  hand 
should  be  against  every  man  and  every  man's  hand  against  him" 
(eh.  16:  12),  nor  still  less  was  it  the  son  of  a  slave  (Gal.  4:  31), 
whom  God  had  chosen  for  the  fulfilment  of  his  purposes;  so 
that  he  answered  him  that,  on  the  contrary,  and  in  spite  of 
whatever  natural  difficulties  might  oppose,  Sarah  should  bear  him 
a  son  who  in  his  very  name  would  commemorate  the  joyful 
laughter  of  both  his  parents  on  hearing  the  unlooked-for  an- 
nouncement. Isaac  (=z  "Laughter"  or  "He  shall  laugh")  should 
be  his  name  and  the  covenant  so  often  mentioned  and  of  such 
transcendent  importance,  should  pass  into  his  hands,  and  be 
established  with  him,  for  his  descendants,  as  an  everlasting 
covenant.  He  told  him  that  Ishmael  also  should  be  blessed 
and  extraordinarily  increased,  and  come  to  be  a  great  nation,  be- 
cause he  was  his  son  (ch.  21:13);  but  the  covenant,  which 
meant  so   much  to   Abraham   and   to   the   whole   world,   should 


CHAPTER  17:  15—22  203 

be  for  Isaac,  whom  Sarah  would  bear  to  him  the  coming  year. 
In  this  promise  Abraham  believed  with  implicit  and  unfaltering 
faith;  which  Paul  celebrates  in  Rom.  4:  13 — 22,  concentrating 
in  this  promise  that  faith,  one  and  indivisible,  which  fifteen 
years  before  had  been  reckoned  to  him  for  righteousness.  Gen. 
15:  6.  Paul  says  that  Abraham,  keeping  in  view  this  divine 
promise,  "against  hope — that  is  to  say  against  all  reasonable 
human  hope — believed  in  hope,  that  he  might  become  a  father  of 
many  nations  {Heb.  a  multitude  of  nations)  according  to  that 
which  had  been  spoken:  So — like  the  stars — shall  thy  seed 
be,  and  being  not  weak  in  faith,  he  considered  not  his  own 
body,  now  as  good  as  dead  (when  he  was  about  an  hundred 
years  old),  neither  the  deadness  of  Sarah's  womb;  but,  looking 
to  the  promise  of  God,  he  staggered  not  through  unbelief,  but 
was  strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God,  and  fully  persuaded 
that  what  he  had  promised,  he  was  able  also  to  perform.  And 
for  this  cause  it  was  counted  to  him  for  righteousness."  Rom. 
4:  18 — 22.  How  important  is  it  for  us  to  remember  that  by 
an  intelligent  and  illimitable  faith  in  God  and  his  promises, 
we  give  more  glory  to  him,  than  by  all  the  good  works  which 
he  has  commanded  in  his  word,  when  performed  with  a  vac- 
illating faith,  or  without  any!     John  6:  29;  Luke  17:  10. 

The  promise  with  regard  to  Ishmael,  "I  will  make  of  him 
a  great  nation,"  has  had  its  fulfilment;  but,  just  as  in  the  case 
of  the  same  promise  made  to  Abraham  (ch,  12:  2),  it  has  been 
fulfilled  in  a  moral  rather  than  in  a  literal  sense.  Ishmael,  as 
an  Arab,  a  nomad  of  the  desert,  with  his  descendants,  divided 
among  many  nomadic  tribes,  does  not  make  much  of  a  figure 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  But  when  his  more  distinguished 
son,  Mohammed,  in  the  seventh  century  of  the  Christian  Era, 
raised  the  banner  of  the  Crescent,  and  by  his  sword,  and  that 
of  his  successors,  destroyed  all  images,  both  pagan  and  "Chris- 
tian"— so  called,  extirpating  material  idolatry,  and  subdued 
a  great  part  of  the  world,  in  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa,  to  his 
spiritual  and  political  dominion  [he  still  holds  150,000,000  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  world  subject  to  his  spiritual  sway],  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  son  of  Sarah's  slave  lifts  his  head  aloft, 
among  the  great  founders  of  empires,  as  greater  than  them 
all. 

"When  he  left  off  talking  with  him,  God  tcent  up  from  Abra- 
ham." Vr.  22.  This  comes  to  clinch  the  argument  presented 
on  page  190  that  it  was  a  visible  conference  (and  not  simply 
audible)  that  Jehovah  had  with  Abraham.  Jehovah  occupied 
o  certain  spot  near  to  Abraham,  and  as  soon  as  he  ceased  talk- 


204  GENESIS 

ing  with,  him.  Tie  went  up  from  just  there.  This  literally  is  re- 
peated in  ch.  35:  13,  with  regard  to  Jacob,  when  Jehovah  ap- 
peared to  him,  after  his  return  from  Padan-aram,  changed  his 
name  to  Israel,  blessed  him,  and  confirmed  to  him  the  promises 
made  to  Abraham.  In  the  following  chapter  (18:  33)  we  have 
the  account  of  another  interview,  even  more  palpably  sensible 
and  real,  which  Jehovah,  in  human  form  had  with  Abraham; 
which  concludes  in  this  manner:  "JeJiovaTi  went  his  way  (for 
he  had  stopped  in  the  way  to  listen  to  Abraham's  intercession) 
as  soon  as  he  left  off  communing  ivith  Abraham."  It  is  ex- 
tremely interesting  and  no  less  important  to  pay  attention  to 
these  sensible  and  visible  appearances  of  Him  who  1900  years 
later  "was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us."    John  1 :  14. 

17:  23 — 27.     Abraham  makes  haste  to  perform  what  god  had 
commanded  him.     (1897  b.  c.) 

23  And  Abraham  took  Ishmael  his  son,  and  all  that  were  born 
in  his  house,  and  all  that  were  bought  with  bis  money,  every  male 
among  the  men  of  Abraham's  house,  and  circumcised  the  flesh  of  their 
foreskin  in  the  selfsame  day,  as  God  had  said  unto  him. 

24  And  Abraham  was  ninety  years  old  and  nine,  when  he  was 
circumcised  in  the  flesh  of  his  foreskin. 

25  And  Ishmael  his  son  was  thirteen  years  old,  when  he  was 
circumcised  in  the  flesh  of  his  foreskin. 

26  In  the  selfsame  day  was  Abraham  circumcised,  and  Ishmael 
his  son. 

27  And  all  the  men  of  his  house,  those  born  in  the  house,  and 
those  bought  with  money  of  a  foreigner,  were  circumcised  with  him. 

Nothing  distinguishes  this  great  servant  and  friend  of  God 
more  than  the  resolution  and  promptitude  with  which  (in 
virtue  of  a  living  and  vigorous  faith)  he  fulfilled  every  indica- 
tion of  his  will.  As  the  rite  of  circumcision  was  painful,  bloody, 
repugnant  (Ex.  4:  25),  and  even  dangerous,  anybody  else  but 
an  Abraham  would  naturally  have  waited,  consulting  in  his 
mind  w?ien  and  how  he  should  give  effect  to  the  divine  com- 
mand; but  "in  that  same  day,"  hardly  had  God  gone  up  from 
beside  him,  when  Abraham  gathered  the  men  of  his  encampment, 
who  could  not  be  less  than  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  persons 
(ch.  14:  14),  and  the  master,  the  son,  and  the  servants,  great 
and  small,  were  circumcised  without  delay.  Most  worthy  it  is 
that  the  spiritual  children  of  Abraham  should  fix  attention 
on  this  distinctive  trait  of  their  father.  "If  ye  be  Christ's,  then 
are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise." 
Gal.  3:  29. 


CHAPTER  18:  1—8  205 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

VBS.    1 — 8.       ABBAHAM    ENTERTAINS    ANGELS     AND    THE    LOBD    OF    THE 
ANGELS.        (1897    B.    C.) 

1  And  Jehovah  appeared  unto  him  by  the  oaks  of  Mamre.  as  he 

Bat  in  the  tent  door  in  the  heat  of  the  day ; 

2  and  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  looked,  and,  lo,  three  men  stood 
over  against  him  :  and  when  he  saw  them,  he  ran  to  meet  them  from 
the  tent  door,  and  bowed  himself  to  the  earth, 

3  and  said.  My  lord,  if  now  I  have  found  favor  in  thy  sight,  pass 
not  away,  I  pray  thee,  from  thy  servant : 

4  let  now  a  little  water  be  fetched,  and  wash  your  feet,  and  rest 
yourselves  under  the  tree : 

5  and  I  will  ^etch  a  morsel  of  bread,  and  strengthen  ye  your 
heart ;  after  that  ye  shall  pass  on  :  forasmuch  as  ye  are  come  to  your 
servant.    And  they  said.  So  do,  as  thou  hast  said. 

6  And  Abraham  hastened  into  the  tent  unto  Sarah,  and  said, 
Make  ready  quickly  three  measures  of  fine  meal,  knead  it,  and  make 
cakes. 

7  And  Abraham  ran  unto  the  herd,  and  fetched  a  calf  tender  and 
good,  and  gave  it  unto  the  servant ;  and  he  hasted  to  dress  it. 

8  And  he  took  butter,*  and  milk,  and  the  calf  which  he  had 
dressed,  and  set  it  before  them ;  and  he  stood  by  them  under  the 
tree,  and  they  did  eat. 

\*M.  S.  v. J  cheese,  or  curds.] 

Abraham  found  the  vicinity  of  Hebron  (some  20  miles  to 
the  south  of  Salem,  which  later  was  Jerusalem,  and  at  that  time 
was,  or  had  been,  the  residence  of  Melchisedec,  eh.  14:  18)  so 
much  to  his  liking,  that  when  Lot  separated  from  him,  he 
established  himself  there,  in  the  oak-grove  of  Mamre,  his  com- 
panion and  ally  (ch.  13:  18;  14:  13);  and  it  would  appear  that 
he  had  remained  principally  there,  in  all  the  intermediate  space  of 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years;  for  Lot,  who  was  then,  it  seems,. 
unmarried,  had  now  a  family  in  Sodom  of  grown  daughters,  some 
of  them  married.     Ch.  19:  14,  15. 

In  the  same  year  as  before,  and  about  three  months  later,  God 
appeared  again  to  Abraham.  On  this  occasion  we  see  Jehovah 
as  one  of  three  individuals  who  presented  themselves  at  the 
tent  door  of  the  patriarch.  The  story  of  this  visit  gives  us 
a  simple  and  beautiful  picture  of  the  courtesy  and  hospitality 
of  those  times.  It  is  possible,  but  not  certain,  that  Abraham 
knew  nothing  of  letters;  but  he  was  a  gentleman,  and  a  very 
great  gentleman;  for  sincere  and  unaffected  gentility  is  in 
its  essence  one  and  the  same  thing  in  all  ages.  Seated  in  the 
door  of  his  tent,  beneath  the  shade  of  the  tree,  during  the 
heat  of  the  day,  Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  saw  that  three 
respectable  persons  had  arrived,  and  were  standing  near  his 
tent.  On  seeing  them,  he  ran  to  receive  them,  and  bowing  him- 
Bclf  toward  the  earth  (as  on  a  later  occasion  he  did  with  the  song 


206  GENESIS 

of  Heth,  ch.  23:  7,  12),  lie  begged  him  whom  he  at  once  saw 
to  be  the  most  distinguished  of  the  three,  that  they  would  enter 
beneath  the  shade  of  the  tree  and  recline  there,  while  he  had 
water  brought  to  wash  their  feet,  and  prepared  for  them  to  eat, 
before  they  passed  on;  and  the  argument  which  he  uses  with 
them  was  that  passing  so  near  their  servant,  they  could  not 
deny  him  the  satisfaction  of  using  the  rites  of  hospitality  with 
them.  Here  also  our  attention  is  called  for  the  first  time  to 
the  usage  of  washing  the  feet,  when  a  guest  entered  the  house; 
a  usage  which  appears  so  frequently  in  the  Bible,  Abraham 
had  observed  something  extraordinary  in  his  visitors,  and  in- 
stead of  calling  a  servant  to  take  his  orders,  he  himself  "ran" 
with  diligent  care  to  wait  upon  his  guests.  Everything  is  great 
in  this  great  man,  who  gained  for  himself  the  distinction  of 
being  called  "the  friend  of  God."  Isa.  41:  8;  2  Chron,  20:  7; 
James  2:  23.  And  when  he  had  himself  brought  and  placed 
before  them  the  dinner  which  he  had  had  prepared  with  the 
greatest  promptness,  so  as  not  to  detain  them  on  their  journey, 
Abraham  stood,  in  the  attitude  of  a  servant  (1  Kings  17:  1; 
2  Kings  5:  25),  near  to  them,  while  they  ate. 

18:  9 — 15.      THE  PROMISE  OF  A  SON   BY  SARAH  HIS  WIFE  IS  REPEATED, 
WITH   AMPLIFICATIONS,   TO  ABRAHAM.       (1897   B.   C.) 

9  And  they  said  unto  him,  Where  is  Sarah  thy  wife?  And  he 
said,  Behold,  in  the  tent. 

10  And  he  said,  I  will  certainly  return  unto  thee  when  the  season 
Cometh  round ;  and,  lo,  Sarah  thy  wife  shall  have  a  son.  And  Sarah 
heard*   in  the  tent  door,  which  was  behind  him, 

11  Now  Abraham  and  Sarah  were  old,  and  well  stricken  in  age; 
it  had  ceased  to  be  with  Sarah  after  the  manner  of  women. 

12  And  Sarah  laughed  within  herself,  saying,  After  I  am  waxed 
old  shall  I  have  pleasure,  my  lord  being  old  also? 

13  And  Jehovah  said  unto  Abraham,  Wherefore  did  Sarah  laugh, 
saying,  Shall  I  of  a  surety  bear  a  child,  who  am  old? 

14  Is  anything  too  hard  for  Jehovah?  At  the  set  time  I  will 
return  unto  thee,  when  the  season  cometh  round,  and  Sarah  shall 
have  a  son, 

15  Then  Sarah  denied,  saying,  I  laughed  not ;  for  she  was  afraid. 
And  he  said,  Nay ;  but  thou  didst  laugh, 

[*J/.  S.  v.,  was  listening.] 
When  dinner  was  done,  the  men,  contrary  to  all  Oriental 
usage,  inquired  about  Abraham's  wife;  which  would  surprise 
him  not  a  little,  and  all  the  more  on  seeing  that  they  called  her 
by  name;  a  surprise  that  would  prepare  his  mind  for  the  an- 
nouncement, which  was  at  once  made  by  him  who  was  evidently 
the  chief  of  the  three,  and  who  was  seated  with  his  back  to  the 
door  of  the  tent.  Sarah,  meanwhile,  who  already  had  intel- 
ligence of  the  promise  which  Jehovah  had  given  on  the  previous 


CHAPTER  18:  9—15  207 

occasion,  that  she  should  be  the  mother  of  the  son  and  promised 
heir,  incited  by  her  curiosity  to  know  more,  and  with  womanly 
quickness  divining,  perhaps  before  her  husband  did,  the  quality 
and  character  of  the  guests  who  made  the  visit,  left  her  own 
tent  (vr.  6  and  ch.  24:  67),  and  passing  to  that  of  her  husband, 
she  drew  close  to  the  door,  behind  the  curtain  or  screen  (in 
order  to  see  and  hear,  without  being  observed),  at  the  back 
of  the  principal  visitor.  In  the  preceding  interview,  Jehovah 
had  promised  Abraham  that  Sarah  should  have  a  son,  at  the 
end  of  a  year  (ch.  17:  21),  but  without  anything  further.  Now, 
however,  he  tells  him  that  in  the  spring  of  the  year  (as  some 
understand  the  difficult  phrase  "when  the  season  cometh  round"; 
or,  more  probably,  in  the  time  necessary  for  the  production  of  a 
living  child),  he  would  certainly  return  to  him  again,  and  Sarah 
should  have  a  son.  As  he  never  repeated  the  visit,  his  returning 
again  must  be  understood,  of  course,  of  that  beneficent  providence 
that  would  bring  him  a  son,  in  whom  the  promises  should  have 
their  fulfilment,  and  of  whose  birth  we  are  told,  in  ch.  21:  1,  that 
"Jehovah  visited  Sarah  according  as  he  had  said,  and  Jehovah 
did  unto  Sarah  according  as  he  had  promised."  It  is  inter- 
esting and  profitable  to  fix  attention  on  the  fact  that  so  near 
the  beginnings  of  the  divine  revelation,  the  notable  manifesta- 
tions of  the  providence  of  God,  in  mercy  or  in  wrath,  are  said 
to  be  his  "visits,"  and  "comings."  Sarah  undoubtedly  had 
knowledge  of  that  first  promise;  but  when  she  heard  it  for 
herself,  and  heard  the  time  fixed,  she  laughed  with  satisfaction 
(as  Abraham  had  done  before),  but  with  a  certain  degree  of 
incredulity.  She  laughed  within  herself  and  standing  behind 
Jehovah.  But  he  had  observed  it,  and  said  to  Abraham:  "Where- 
fore did  Sarah  laugh,  saying:  Shall  I  of  a  surety  bear  a  child, 
who  am  old?"  In  times  of  danger  and  urgent  necessity,  it  is 
well  for  us  to  bring  to  mind  the  question  with  which  the  Angel 
answered  that  unspoken  doubt:  "Is  anything  too  hard  for 
Jehovah?"  Sarah  then  denied,  saying:  "I  did  not  laugh;" 
because  she  was  afraid.  But  he  reproved  the  falsehood,  affirm- 
ing that  she  did  laugh.  This  colloquy  between  the  two  mani- 
fests that  Sarah  had  not  committed  any  impropriety  in  draw- 
ing near  to  listen,  although  according  to  Oriental  usage,  she 
remained  unseen,  behind  the  door  or  curtain.  The  word  trans- 
lated "Sarah  denied"  is  translated  ordinarily  to  lie;  here  it  is 
to  deny  the  truth.  The  falsehood  of  Sarah  cannot  be  excused, 
of  course;  and  yet  it  is  in  strict  conformity  with  the  usage,  and 
even  the  modern  usage,  of  all  peoples  who  have  not  the  knowl- 
edge and  use  of  the  Bible;   for  them  the  negation  of  the  truth 


208  GENESIS 

is  the  most  convenient  form  of  evading  a  diflBculty,  or  of  escaping 
from  a  painful  situation.  The  Bible  alone  effectually  teaches  the 
nations  to  speak  the  truth.    Ps.  58:  3;  Jer.  9:  4,  5. 

18:  16 — 33.      ABRAHAM  INTERCEDES  ON  BEHALF  OF  SODOM.    (1897  B.  C.) 

16  And  the  men  rose  up  from  thence,  and  looked  toward  Sodom : 
and  Abraham  went  with  them  to  bring  tliem  on  the  way. 

17  And  Jehovah  said.  Shall  I  hide  from  Abraham  that  which  I  do ; 

18  seeing  that  Abraham  shall  surely  become  a  great  and  mighty 
nation,  and  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  in  him? 

19  For  I  have  known  him.  to  the  end  that  he  may  command  his 
children  and  his  household  after  him,  that  they  may  keep  the  way 
of  Jehovah,  to  do  righteousness  and  justice ;  to  the  end  that  Jehovah 
may  bring  upon  Abraham  that  which  he  hath  spoken  of  him. 

20  And  Jehovah  said.  Because  the  cry  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  ia 
great,  and  because  their  sin  is  very  grievous ; 

21  I  will  go  down  now,  and  see  whether  they  have  done  altogether 
according  to  the  cry  of  it,  which  is  come  unto  me ;  and  if  not,  I  will 
know. 

22  And  the  men  turned  from  thence,  and  went  toward  Sodom: 
but  Abraham  stood  yet  before  Jehovah. 

23  And  Abraham  drew  near,  and  said,  Wilt  thou  consume  the 
righteous  with  the  wicked? 

24  Peradventure  there  are  fifty  righteous  within  the  city :  wilt 
thou  consume  and  not  spare  the  place  for  the  fifty  righteous  that  are 
therein? 

25  That  be  far  from  thee  to  do  after  this  manner,  to  slay  the 
righteous  with  the  wicked,  that  so  the  righteous  should  be  as  the 
wicked ;  that  be  far  from  thee  :  shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth 
do  right? 

26  And  Jehovah  said.  If  I  find  in  Sodom  fifty  righteous  within  the 
city,  then  I  will  spare  all  the  place  for  their  sake. 

27  And  Abraham  answered  and  said,  Behold  now,  I  have  taken 
upon  me  to  speak  unto  the  Lord,  who  am  but  dust  and  ashes : 

28  peradventure  there  shall  lack  five  of  the  fifty  righteous :  wilt 
thou  destroy  all  the  city  for  lack  of  five?  And  he  said,  I  will  not 
destroy  it,  if  I  find  there  forty  and  five. 

29  And  he  spake  unto  him  yet  again,  and  said,  Peradventure  there 
shall  be  forty  found  there.  And  he  said,  I  will  not  do  it  for  the 
forty's  sake. 

30  And  he  said.  Oh  let  not  the  Lord  be  angry,  and  I  will  speak : 
peradventure  there  shall  thirty  be  found  there.  And  he  said,  I  will 
not  do  it,  if  I  find  thirty  there. 

31  And  he  said.  Behold  now,  I  have  taken  upon  me  to  speak  unto 
the  Lord  :  peradventure  there  shall  be  twenty  found  there.  And  he 
said,  I  will  not  destroy  it  for  the  twenty's  sake. 

32  And  he  said,  Oh  let  not  the  Lord  be  angry,  and  I  will  speak  yet 
but  this  once :  peradventure  ten  shall  be  found  there.  And  he  said, 
I  will  not  destroy  it  for  the  ten's  sake. 

33  And  Jehovah  went  his  way,  as  soon  as  he  had  left  off  commun- 
ing with  Abraham ;  and  Abraham  returned  unto  his  place. 

At  the  close  of  the  interview,  the  three  men  arose  to  go  on 
their  way,  and  turned  their  faces  in  the  direction  of  Sodom; 
which,  from  Hebron,  lay  to  the  S.  E.,  on  the  supposition  that 
it  was  located  at  the  south  of  the  Sea  of  Sodom.  Hebron  was 
about  16  miles  distant  in  a  straight  line  to  the  west  of  the  sea; 
almost  opposite  to  En-gedi,  where  the  terrible  defile  of  Hazazon- 


CHAPTER  18:  IC— 33  209 

tamar  communicated  between  the  sea  and  the  mountains,  which 
rose  to  an  elevation  of  1500  feet  above  it.  Through  this  defile, 
some  twenty  or  twenty-five  years  before,  Chedorlaomer  and  his 
allied  kings  descended  to  En-gedi  and  the  vale  of  Siddim 
where  they  overcame  the  five  confederate  kings,  and  sacked 
their  cities.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  the  angels,  being  in 
front  of  En-gedi,  and  going  towards  the  same  objective  point, 
Sodom,  should  take  the  same  route  they  did.  In  compliance 
"with  the  duties  of  hospitality,  Abraham  accompanied  his  visitors 
a  considerable  distance  in  taking  leave  of  them.  He  had  ob- 
served with  interest  and  concern  that  they  set  out  in  the 
direction  of  Sodom,  and  it  awakened  his  fears  for  the  security 
of  his  nephew.  The  interview  in  his  tent  had  likewise  given 
him  a  more  or  less  correct  idea  of  the  exalted  station  of  his 
guests;  "angels  whom  he  had  entertained  unawares."  Heb. 
13:  2.  Extremely  interesting  is  the  soliloquy  of  Jehovah  as  he 
walked  at  Abraham's  side;  and  it  manifests  with  how  much 
reality  Jehovah  speaks  of  Abraham  as  his  "friend."  So  also 
Jesus  said  to  his  disciples  "I  no  longer  call  you  servants; 
for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth;  but  I  have 
called  you  friends;  for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  from  my 
Father  have  I  made  known  to  you."  John  15:  15.  Jehovah, 
therefore,  did  not  wish  to  conceal  from  his  friend  Abraham 
what  he  was  about  to  do;  and  apparently  the  heart  of  Abraham 
had  already  a  strong  presentiment  of  some  terrible  calamity 
that  was  Impending;  concerned  as  he  was  for  the  security  of 
his  kinsman,  whose  worldly  tendencies  and  his  intimate  associ- 
ations with  that  most  wicked  people  filled  him  always  with  con- 
cern. 

The  reason  given  in  vr.  19  for  this  act  of  intimate  confidence, 
gives  likewise  a  compendious  declaration  of  the  reason  and 
purpose  of  the  calling  of  Abraham,  and  why  God  had  separated 
him  from  the  other  peoples  of  the  earth,  and  brought  him  into 
such  close  and  confidential  relations  with  himself.  The  Ver- 
sions in  general  do  not  clear  up  this  point,  giving  us  rather 
to  understand  that  it  was  because  Abraham  was  very  faithful 
and  holy  in  the  government  of  his  house.  But  the  translators 
have  allowed  themselves  apparently  to  be  misled  by  the  or- 
dinary sense  of  the  words  to  knotc;  and  so  Scio  translates  the 
passage:  "For  I  know  that  he  will  command  his  children," 
etc.  (Amat  gives  the  same  sense) ;  so  also  the  common  English 
Version  and  that  of  Valera,  "For  I  know  him,  that  he  will 
command  his  children,"  etc.  But  the  Hebrew  text  does  not 
sanction  this  rendering,  and  makes  it  clear  that  to  "know"'  is 


210  GENESIS 

used  here  in  a  special  sense,  but  one  well  known  in  the  word 
of  God;  and  so  the  Revised  English  Version,  together  with 
the  Modern  Spanish  Version,  translate  it  as  it  is  given  in  the 
text:  "For  /  have  known  him,  in  order  that  he  may  command 
his  children  and  his  household  after  him,  that  they  may  keep 
the  way  of  Jehovah,  to  do  righteousness  and  justice;  to  the 
end  that  Jehovah  may  bring  upon  Abraham  that  which  he 
hath  spoken  of  him."  The  word  "know"  has  here  the  sense 
which  the  prophet  Amos  gives  it  (ch.  3:  2),  where  God  says: 
"Yov,  only  have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the  earth;" 
which  is  explained  in  Ex.  2:  25,  when  God  interposed  for  the 
salvation  of  his  people:  "And  God  saw  the  children  of  Israel; 
and  God  took  knotvledge  (of  them)."  [M.  S.  V.,  "And  God 
looked  on  the  children  of  Israel;  and  God  recognized  them  (or 
knew  them)  as  his  people,'" — in  italics.]  In  the  same  sense 
Paul  says  to  the  fickle  Galatians:  "But  now  that  ye  have  come 
to  know  God,  or  rather  to  be  known  of  God,  how  turn  ye  back 
again,"  etc.?  Gal.  4:9.  It  is  the  same  sense  in  which  Paul 
says  once  more:  "For  whom  he  did  foreknow,  he  also  did  pre- 
destinate to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son"  (Rom. 
8:  29);  in  all  which  cases  the  idea  is  not  that  of  having  more 
or  less  personal  acquaintance  with  an  individual,  nor  having 
relations  of  intimacy  with  him,  but  to  know  and  recognize  him 
as  one's  own;  something  which  had  a  very  close  relation  with 
his  divine  calling.  Jehovah  had  known  Abraham,  and  had 
brought  him  into  the  knowledge  and  friendship  of  his  God, 
"iri  order  that  he  might  command  his  children  and  his  house- 
hold after  him,  to  keep  the  way  of  Jehovah;"  that  so  Je- 
hovah might  give  fulfilment  to  all  he  had  promised  concerning 
him. 

The  same  thing  is  true,  in  a  degree,  of  all  the  spiritual 
children  of  Abraham,  God  calls  them  to  himself,  not  merely 
that  they  may  be  saved,  but  that  they  may  direct,  and  not  merely 
direct,  but  "command"  their  children  and  their  families  to 
walk  in  the  paths  of  piety  and  truth,  to  the  end  that  he  mau 
fulfil  the  promises  of  blessing  given  to  his  faithful  people  and 
to  their  children  after  them.  "To  you  is  the  promise  and  to 
your  children."  Acts  2:  39.  If  Christian  parents  thus  under- 
stood and  practiced  their  heavenly  calling,  how  differently  would 
the  cause  of  God  progress  in  this  world?  Extremely  significant 
is  the  use  of  the  word  command  here.  There  are  parents,  and 
not  a  few,  who  believe  that  if  they  give  good  advice  to  their 
children,  and  if  to  that  they  add  a  good  example,  they  have 
performed  all  their  duty,  and  may  well  leave  their  children  in 


CHAPTER  18:  16—33  211 

full  liberty  to  do  as  they  like.  It  is  truly  lamentable  to  ob- 
serve in  how  many  families  of  evangelical  parents  the  children 
are  permitted  to  take  a  different  road,  while  parental  authority 
Avails  nofliing  to  prevent  it.  There  are  other  families  in  which 
the  supposed  son  of  Abraham,  instead  of  commanding  his  chil- 
dren and  his  household,  abdicates  his  authority  in  favor  of  the 
worldly  or  fanatical  wife,  and  consents  that  sJie  shall  command 
the  children  and  household  in  a  totally  different  way.  Wholly 
conformable  with  the  will  of  God  was  the  decree  of  Ahasuerus, 
king  of  Persia,  which  he  caused  to  be  proclaimed  throughout 
the  one  hundred  and  twenty  provinces  of  his  dominion:     "that 

EVERY   MAN    SHOULD   BEAK   RULE   IN   HIS    OWN   HOUSE"     (Esth.    1:  22); 

a  most  salutary  order  of  things  which  Romanism  has  com- 
pletely subverted,  as  far  as  it  is  able,  causing  that,  in  matters 
of  religion,  the  wife,  under  the  tutelage  of  the  priest,  shall 
govern  the  house,  and  her  husband  submit,  or  go  out  of  It; 
or  if  not,  that  she  "turn  the  house  into  a  helV ;  to  avail  myself 
of  the  expression  so  much  used  by  fathers-  to  excuse  themselves 
from  mentioning  "religion"  or  "Bible"  within  their  own  doors. 
This  is  one  of  the  means  by  which  the  religion  of  the  priest 
shakes  the  social  and  political  fabric,  and  causes  to  totter  the 
columns  of  public  order;  as  seen  today  in  almost  every  Roman 
Catholic  country. 

In  view  of  such  enduring  and  intimate  relations,  Jehovah 
determined  that  he  would  not  conceal  from  Abraham,  his  ser- 
vant and  friend,  the  resolution  he  had  taken  to  examine  with 
his  own  eyes  whether  the  conduct  of  Sodom  and  the  other 
Cities  of  the  Plain  was  altogether  in  accord  with  the  "cry" 
which  was  going  up  to  him,  and  govern  his  conduct  according 
to  the  result.  That  word  "cry"  is  very  expressive,  and  for 
evil-doers  it  ought  to  be  very  terrible.  Their  sins  and  other 
wickednesses  go  up  to  God  as  an  incessant  "cry"  (like  the 
shed  blood  of  Abel,  ch.  4:  10),  which  calls  for  the  retributions  of 
divine  justice;  and  sooner  or  later  those  cries  will  receive  due 
attention. 

Vrs.  20  and  21  may  be  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  foregoing 
soliloquy;  in  which  case  "I  will  go  down  and  see  whether  they 
have  done,"  etc.,  may  be  interpreted  in  the  same  way  as  in 
the  case  of  the  tower  of  Babylon  we  interpreted  the  words 
of  Jehovah  "Let  us  go  down,"  etc.  (ch.  11:  7),  as  an  accommo- 
dation to  our  human  mode  of  speech.  But  it  seems  very  un- 
likely that  Jehovah,  walking  with  Abraham  in  the  road  from 
Hebron  to  Sodom,  should  speak  as  if  he  were  still  in  heaven, 
and  had  not  yet  descended  to  earth.    It  is  much  more  natural  and 


212  GENESIS 

proper  to  understand  the  words  as  spoken  in  Abraham's  hearing 
by  Jehovah,  who,  in  human  form,  strode  at  his  side,  going 
towards  Sodom;  and  in  these  words  he  reveals  the  personal 
examination  he  was  about  to  make  of  the  abominaticAis  whicl> 
were  committed  there  in  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  still  more 
under  the  cover  of  the  night — crimes  that  seemed  to  renew 
the  violences  and  abominations  of  the  antediluvians.  All  this 
is  a  very  human  but  very  expressive  mode  of  speech.  As  Sodom 
was  situated  in  the  depression  of  the  Arabah,  something  like 
4,300  feet  below  the  mountain  range  on  whose  summit  the 
four  men  were  at  that  moment  standing,  and  whence  the 
immense  concavity  of  the  Sea  of  Sodom  could  in  the  distance 
be  discerned,  with  entire  naturalness  and  propriety  he  might 
say  to  Abraham  "I  will  go  down  and  see";  just  as  Jesus 
presents  to  us,  in  the  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan,  "a  cer- 
tain man  who  went  down  (3,700  feet)  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho, 
and  fell  among  thieves."     Luke  10:  30. 

Abraham,  by  this  time  fully  aware  of  what  he  had  before 
suspected,  seems  to  have  given  indication  of  his  wish  to  detain 
his  interlocutor,  whose  exalted  character  he  now  understood; 
and  in  fact,  the  two  companions  passed  on  in  the  way  to 
Sodom;  ''but  Abraham  stood  yet  before  Jehovah."  There  is  no 
doubt  that  this  was  the  state  of  things  in  that  moment:  Four 
men  left  the  tent  of  Abraham  that  afternoon;  four  men  were 
together  in  the  way,  at  the  time  when  Jehovah  revealed  his 
purpose  of  investigating  for  himself  the  occasion  for  the  cry 
which  was  going  up  to  him  from  Sodom,  and  Abraham  well 
knew  that  such  an  investigation  could  have  only  one  result; 
Abraham  detained  Jehovah  in  the  way,  to  intercede  on  behalf 
of  Sodom;  so  that  two  of  the  four  stopped  in  the  way,  and 
two  of  them,  called  "angels,"  arrived  at  the  gate  of  Sodom 
that  very  afternoon;  and  not  only  so,  but  we  are  told  that  "the 
iivo  angels  came  to  Sodom  at  even"  (ch.  19:  1),  the  two  whom 
we  already  know,  and  who  passed  on  when  Abraham  "stood  yet 
before  Jehovah." 

The  testimony  of  the  word  of  God  could  not  be  more  ex- 
press that  he  who  1900  years  afterwards  "was  made  flesh  and 
dwelt  among  us"  (John  1:  14),  here  took,  by  way  of  anticipa- 
tion, the  form  of  a  man,  accepted  the  hospitality  of  Abraham, 
reclined  beneath  the  shade  of  a  tree  in  front  of  his  tent,  ate 
of  his  food,  walked  by  his  side  along  the  road,  stopped  to  listen 
to  his  intercession  for  the  sinners  of  Sodom,  answered  him 
mouth  to  mouth  with  indulgent  kindness,  while  Abraham  pressed 
him    more  and   more  to   reduce  the  number   of  just   men   who 


CHAPTER  18:  IG— 33  213 

would  be  sufficient  to  preserve  the  city  from  destruction;  and 
when  Abraham  ceased  to  ask,  before  the  Lord  ceased  to  grant 
his  petitions,  "Jehovah  went  on  Jiis  way,  as  soon  as  he  ceased 
talking  with  Abraham,  while  Abraham  returned  to  his  place." 
Vr.  33.  Voluntarily  blind  must  he  be,  and  misled  by  prejudice, 
who  will  not  see  in  all  this,  that  our  father  Abraham  recog- 
nized (what  his  descendants  according  to  the  flesh  denied  and 
yet  resolutely  deny)  the  fact  and  certainty  that  God  manifested 
himself  to  Abraham  in  human  form,  and  that  this  God  was  not 
some  inferior  divinity,  or  a  superior  or  supreme  angel  (according 
to  the  teaching  of  Arians),  but  Jehovah  himself;  and  not 
less  unequivocal  is  the  testimony  that  Moses,  who  wrote  this 
history,  recognized  it  likewise;  for  had  it  not  been  so,  it  would 
have  been  very  easy  for  him  to  guard  his  readers  against 
such  an  inference.  Moses,  therefore,  and  Abraham  may  be 
regarded  as  pertaining  to  the  Christian  family;  and  we  see 
with  how  great  reason  Jesus  said  to  the  Jews:  "If  ye  believed 
Moses,  ye  would  believe  me;  for  he  wrote  of  me."  John 
5:46. 

Another  circumstance  well  worthy  of  fixing  our  attention,  and 
especially  of  fixing  the  attention  of  Roman  Catholic  peoples, 
is  that  with  full  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  it  was  Jehovah 
with  whom  he  was  speaking,  and  recognizing  himself  as  "dust 
and  ashes"  in  the  presence  of  "the  Judge  of  all  the  earth"  (vrs. 
25,  27),  "Abraham  yet  stood  'before  Jehovah."  Surely  if  Abra- 
ham (and  Joshua  also  teaches  us  the  same  lesson,  Josh.  5:  13; 
6:1),  remained  standing  in  the  presence  of  him  whom  he  recog- 
nized as  God  in  human  form,  understanding  probably  that  the 
human  -form  was  reason  sufficient  why  he  should  not  cast  him- 
self on  his  knees  before  him,  we  ought  to  see  that  it  is  a 
shameful  idolatry  to  kneel  before  a  priest  in  the  confessional, 
or  before  images  of  saints,  representations  of  dead  men  and 
women,  and  even  before  a  consecrated  loafer,  which  they  im- 
piously call  "The  Divine  Majesty"!  With  good  reason  did 
Peter  say  to  Cornelius,  a  half  illuminated  pagan,  when  he 
fell  down  before  him,  to  render  him  religious  worship:  "Stand 
up;  I  myself  also  am  a  man!"  (Acts  10:  26);  and  the  angel 
said  to  John  twice,  when  he  twice  placed  himself  before  him  in 
the  same  attitude  of  worship:  "See  thou  do  it  not!  I  am  a  fellow 
servant  of  thine,  and  of  thy  brethren  the  prophets,  and  of  them 
which  keep  the  sayings  of  this  book;  WORSHIP  GOD!"  Rev. 
19:10;  22:8,  9.  Truly  the  religion  of  Abraham  and  of  Moses, 
the  religion  which  Jesus  Christ  came  to  establish  on  earth,  and 
which  his  apostles  taught  and  practiced,  is  that  which  ennobles 


214  GENESIS 

a  man,  teaching  him  that  not  to  his  '"fellow  servants."  whether  ■ 
angels  or  men,  should  he  pay  adoration  and  worship,  but  to 
God  alone.  As  Jesus  himself  puts  it:  "Thou  shalt  worship  the 
Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve."    Matt.  4 :  10. 

The  intercession  of  Abraham  on  behalf  of  Sodom  is  one 
of  the  most  notable  and  moving  narratives  contained  in  Holy 
Scripture.  Comprehending  perfectly  the  urgency  of  the  case, 
and  knowing  how  short  the  time  was,  allowing  the  two  angels 
to  pass  on  their  way  to  Sodom,  Abraham,  with  holy  boldness 
dreiv  locally  near  to  Jehovah,  and  began  by  saying:  "7s  it  so 
that  thou  wilt  destroy  the  righteous  tenth  the  wicked?"  If 
Abraham  with  full  knowledge  of  the  weaknesses  of  his  worldly 
nephew,  counts  him  among  the  number  of  "the  righteous," 
it  ought  not  to  seem  strange  to  us  that  Peter  should  tell  us 
that  in  the  horrible  overthrow  of  Sodom  God  "delivered  righteous 
Lot,  distressed  by  the  lascivious  life  of  the  wicked."  2  Peter 
2:  7.  And  if  Jehovah  "the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,"  admitted  the 
plea,  it  should  not  cause  us  the  repugnance  we  feel  in  repeating, 
without  criticism,  these  words  of  Peter,  and  to  recognize  that 
through  the  unmerited  grace  of  the  God  of  Abraham,  who  justi- 
fies the  believing  sinner,  and  ''imputes  to  him  a  righteousness 
apart  from  works"  (Rom.  4:  5,  6),  even  the  worldly  Lot  in  Sodom 
could  pass  muster  among  the  just! 

Abraham  begins  with  the  supposition  that,  having  made  his 
examination,  it  should  turn  out  that  there  were  fifty  right- 
eous persons  in  the  city;  and  he  asks  whether,  on  account  of 
the  fifty,  he  would  not  pardon  the  guilty  city.  Abraham  did 
not  know  Sodom,  and  in  the  belief  that  there  might  be  fifty 
righteous  men  there,  he  proceeds  to  argue  the  case,  affirming 
that  Jehovah  would  not  slay  the  righteous  with  the  wicked, 
destroying  them  all  alike;  and  he  appeals  confidently  to  the 
rectitude  of  the  "Judge  of  all  the  earth."  In  this  Abraham 
teaches  us  that  we  likewise  ought  to  use  arguments,  and  es- 
pecially to  appeal  to  the  divine  promises,  in  our  prayers  and  in- 
tercessions. Jehovah  admits  his  plea,  and  tells  him  that  he 
will  not  only  not  slay  the  righteous  with  the  wicked,  but  that 
he  will  even  spare  all  those  impious  sinners,  if  he  should  find 
fifty  righteous  persons  within  the  city.  The  words  "within  the 
city,"  twice  repeated,  may  indicate  that  among  the  shepherds 
and  other  servants  of  Lot  (the  older  of  them  educated  near 
to  the  altar  of  Abraham),  there  might  be  just  men  tending 
his  flocks  in  the  mountains,  or  cultivating  his  fields  in  the  plain, 
who  might  enter  into  the  account  of  the  fifty  righteous  persons; 
but   it    does   not   appear   that   there   were    any    such;    they    all 


CHAPTER  18:  IC— 33  215 

seem  to  have  perished  alike.  The  groundless  supposition  that  there 
were  fifty  righteous  persons  (even  in  a  low  and  worldly  sense) 
in  Sodom,  within  the  city,  gives  us  to  understand  that  not  even 
Abraham  had  a  correct  idea  of  the  desperate  wickedness  and 
total  corruption  of  that  focus  of  abominations,  where  material 
interests,  the  bonds  of  family,  the  claims  of  society,  and  other 
human  considerations  detained  "just  Lot,"  as  if  a  prisoner^ 
against  his  will;  "who  dwelling  among  them,  in  seeing  and  hear- 
ing, vexed  his  righteous  soul  from  day  to  day  with  their  law- 
less deeds."  2  Peter  2:  8.  Most  instructive  is  this  example 
of  Lot,  and  it  sets  clearly  before  us  how  extremely  dangerous 
is  intimate  association  with  the  workers  of  iniquity,  and  what 
kind  of  spiritual  suicide  those  Christians  commit,  who  marry 
into  the  families  of  such  as  are  the  enemies  of  God's  ways, 
and  bind  themselves  with  ties  hard  to  loose,  and  even  with  indis- 
soluble bonds,  to  persons  who  with  rapid  steps  are  hastening 
to  the  abyss.  The  lesson  is  extremely  important  to  our  evan- 
gelical people,  of  whom  a  multitude  of  men,  and  even  a  larger 
number  of  women,  professing  piety,  have  sacrificed  all  their 
spiritual  interests  and  their  Christian  character  and  influence, 
by  this  intimate  association  with  "them  that  know  not  God, 
and  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  2  Thes.  2:  8. 
Jesus  has  left  us  the  solemn  admonition:  "Remember  Lot's 
wife!"  that  we  may  not  hesitate,  nor  falter,  in  "fleeing  from  the 
■wrath  to  come"  (Luke  17:  32) :  but  to  young  and  old,  to  men  and 
women,  who  profess  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it  may  be 
said   with   much  frequency   and   no   less   urgency:      "Remember 

Lotr 

Having  obtained  his  first  petition,  Abraham  makes  a  rebate 
of  five  from  the  fifty,  and  with  profound  humility,  as  became 
"dust  and  ashes"  in  speaking  with  the  Lord,  he  asks  him  if 
he  will  destroy  the  whole  city  for  the  lack  of  five?  Jehovah  grants 
this  petition  also,  promising  that  he  will  not  destroy  the  city 
if  he  should  find  there  forty-five  just  persons.  Grateful  for 
the  petitions  already  obtained,  and  apprehensive  as  to  the  small 
number  of  just  persons  who  might  be  found  in  Sodom,  Abraham 
again  deprecates  the  wrath  of  the  Lord,  which  might  be  awakened 
by  his  daring  and  his  persistence;  and  he  passes  successively 
from  forty-five  righteous  persons  to  forty,  to  thirty,  to  twenty, 
and  to  ten,  without  Jehovah's  manifesting  the  slightest  hesi- 
tancy in  granting  all  he  asked.  It  seems  that  Abraham  wag 
afraid,  or  at  least  ashamed,  to  pass  beyond  this  point;  and  the 
result  shows  that  such  was  the  general  wickedness  of  these  cities, 
which  God  "has  set  forth  as  an  example,  suffering  the  punish- 


216  GENESIS 

ment  of  eternal  fire"'  (Jude  7),  that  even  if  the  patriarch  had 
gone  further,  and  reduced  the  number  from  ten  to  five,  Jehovah 
might  have  conceded  this  also,  without  any  advantage  whatever 
to  those  guilty  cities. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  all  this  wonderful  interces- 
sion in  favor  of  the  sinners  of  Sodom,  Abraham  never  addresses 
his  interlocutor  as  "my  Lord"  (as  he  did  in  vr.  3  and  as  Lot 
does  in  ch.  19:  18),  but  always  and  only  as  "the  Lord,"  showing 
that  he  did  not  use  the  word  "Lord"  as  a  title  of  respect  and 
veneration,  but  as  a  designation  of  the  Supreme  Being. 

When  the  interview  was  ended,  "Jehovah  went  on  his  way," 
in  which  Abraham  had  detained  him,  while  the  latter  returned  to 
the  oak-grove  of  Mamre,  near  to  Hebron,  to  wait  there  the 
outcome  of  events;  which  was  not  delayed  for  even  a  single 
day. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

VES.   1 — 11.      LOT,   SODOM   AND  THE   ANGELS.       (1897   B.    C.) 

1  And  the  two  angels  came  to  Sodom  at  even ;  and  Lot  sat  in 
the  gate  of  Sodom :  and  Lot  saw  them,  and  rose  up  to  meet  them ; 
and  he  bowed  himself  with  his  face  to  the  earth ; 

2  and  he  said.  Behold  now,  my  lords,  turn  aside,  I  pray  you,  into 
your  servant's  house,  and  tarry  all  night,  and  wash  your  feet,  and 
ye  shall  rise  up  early,  and  go  on  your  way.  And  they  said,  Nay ;  but 
we  will  abide  in  the  street  all  night. 

3  And  he  urged  them  greatly ;  and  they  turned  in  unto  him,  and 
entered  into  his  house ;  and  he  made  them  a  feast,  and  did  bake 
unleavened  bread,  and  they  did  eat. 

4  But  before  they  lay  down,  the  men  of  the  city,  even  the  men 
of  Sodom,  compassed  the  house  round,  both  young  and  old,  all  the 
people  from  every  quarter ; 

5  and  they  called  unto  Lot,  and  said  unto  him,  Where  are  the 
men  that  came  in  to  thee  this  night?  bring  them  out  unto  us,  that 
we  may  know  them. 

6  And  Lot  went  out  unto  them  to  the  door,  and  shut  the  door 
after  him. 

7  And  he  said,  I  pray  you,  my  brethren,  do  not  so  wickedly. 

8  Behold  now,  I  have  two  daughters  that  have  not  known  man; 
let  me,  I  pray  you,  bring  them  out  unto  you,  and  do  ye  to  them  as  is 
good  in  your  eyes :  only  unto  these  men  do  nothing,  forasmuch  as  they 
are  come  under  the  shadow  of  my  roof. 

9  And  they  said,  Stand  back.  And  they  said.  This  one  fellow 
came  in  to  sojourn,  and  he  will  needs  be  a  judge :  now  will  we 
deal  worse  with  thee,  than  with  them.  And  they  pressed  sore  upon 
the  man,  even  Lot,  and  drew  near  to  break  the  door. 

10  But  the  men  put  forth  their  hand,  and  brought  Lot  into  the 
house  to  them,  and  shut  to  the  door. 

11  And  they  smote  the  men  that  were  at  the  door  of  the  house 
with  blindness,  both  small  and  great,  so  that  they  wearied  them- 
selves to  find  the  door. 

The  three  men  presented  themselves  at  the  door  of  Abra- 
ham's tent  at  midday — "during  the  heat  of  the  day;"  and  after 


CHAPTER  19:  1—11  217 

that  hour  happened  all  that  is  related  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
The  afternoon,  therefore,  must  have  been  far  advanced  when 
the  two  men  who  passed  onward,  when  Abraham  detained  Je- 
hovah to  intercede  with  him  in  favor  of  Sodom,  arrived  there; 
but  they  arrived  before  night.  Following  the  same  road  as 
Chedorlaomer  and  his  allies,  by  Hazazon-tamar,  or  En-gedi  (ch. 
14:  7;  2  Chron.  20:  2),  there  would  be  16  miles  in  a  straight 
line  to  En-gedi  (but  double  that  distance  by  the  rough  and  wind- 
ing paths  which  they  would  have  to  travel),  and  20  to  25  miles 
from  there  to  Sodom; — a  plain  indication  that  they  did  not  make 
the  journey  on  foot.  [This,  however,  does  not  mean  to  say 
that  they  made  it  by  miracle  either,  but  probably  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  a  higher  sphere,  in  which  they  moved;  as  we 
know  it  was  with  Jesus,  after  his  resurrection,  who,  having  still 
a  body  of  "flesh  and  bones"  (Luke  24:  39;  Eph.  5:  30),  which  could 
be  handled  and  felt  and  proved  not  to  he  "spirit"  ate  and  d,  nk 
with  his  disciples  (Acts  10:  41),  like  these  angels  at  the  out- 
door of  Abraham;  vanished  from  the  sight  of  the  two  disciples 
in  Emmaus  {Gr.  "became  invisible  to  them"),  to  appear  unan- 
nounced in  the  midst  of  the  disciples  in  Jerusalem,  as  with  locked 
doors  they  stood  discussing  the  flying  reports  of  his  resurrection 
(Luke  24:  31,  36,  39);  and  at  last  ascended  up  into  heaven,  by 
his  own  volition,  as  being  no  longer  subject  to  our  limitations 
of  time  and  space; — whence  i)i  like  manner  he  shall  come  in  the 
day  of  his  glory  and  his  power. — Tr.] 

That  same  afternoon,  then,  the  messengers  from  heaven,  the 
ministers  of  divine  vengeance  (called  "men"  in  chapter  18,  but 
"angels"  here)  arrived  at  the  principal  gate  of  Sodom,  at  the  time 
that  Lot  was  seated  in  the  gate,  to  enjoy  the  cool  of  the  evening, 
and  to  converse  with  the  other  people  of  quality,  who  gathered 
there  for  the  same  purpose.  The  gates  or  entrances  of  ancient 
cities  were  not  merely  openings  in  the  wall,  secured  with  "gates 
and  bars,"  but  large  and  very  strong  structures;  for,  in  assaults 
upon  the  city  it  was  there  that  the  combat  was  fiercest.  The 
walls  in  this  part  were  very  thick  and  often  double,  giving  space 
for  chambers,  or  even  dwellings,  within  the  wall  itself,  (Josh.  2: 
15;  Acts  9:  25;  2  Cor.  11:  32,  33),  so  that  the  structure  which  was 
called  a  city  gate,  was  more  like  a  fortress,  or  a  tower,  than  an 
entrance-way  (2  Sam.  18:  24,  33;  Ezek.  40:  15);  and  there,  within 
the  gate,  or  immediately  adjacent  to  it,  justice  was  administered 
and  public  affairs  considered  (Job  29:  7;  31:  21;  2  Sam.  19:  8;  1 
Kings  22:  10),  and  in  its  refreshing  shade  the  people  of  most  dis- 
tinction sat  down  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  social  life.  Lot,  then, 
as  he  was  one  of  the  notables  of  the  city,  was  seated  there  when 


218  GENESIS 

the  two  angels  arrived,  and  on  seeing  in  their  very  appearance 
that  they  were  persons  of  note,  he  rose  up  to  receive  them  with 
the  attention  due  to  their  station.  He  courteously  begged  them 
to  turn  aside  from  the  course  they  were  going  (right  into  the 
city),  and  enter  into  his  house,  which  was  probably  close  by  (see 
2  Kings  7:  9 — 11),  and  spend  the  night  there,  and  wash  their  feet, 
and  the  next  day  go  on  their  way.  They,  who  brought  a  commis- 
sion very  different  from  what  Lot  supposed,  at  first  declined  his 
invitation,  preferring  rather  to  spend  the  night  in  the  street. 
This  the  courteous  and  hospitable  Lot  would  not  consent  to,  and 
using  urgency  with  them,  they  turned  aside  with  him  and  entered 
into  his  house.  The  courtesy  and  hospitality  of  Lot,  and  his  in- 
sistence  in  their  exercise,  saved  the  life  of  himself  and  his 
family;  which  fact  the  apostle  had  in  view  in  the  passage  al- 
ready cited,  in  the  case  of  Abraham:  "Be  not  forgetful  to  enter- 
tain strangers,  for  thereby  some  have  entertained  angels  un- 
awares." Heb.  13:  2.  The  entertaining  of  angels  on  that  night 
was  his  temporal  salvation.  The  angels  brought  as  their  com- 
mission to  probe  to  the  bottom  the  character  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Sodom  (whose  ill-fame  was  notorious  not  only  in  all  the 
country,  but  its  "cry"  had  reached  unto  heaven),  and  to  act  in 
accordance  with  the  result;  so  that  without  his  knowing  it,  the 
moment  was  extremely  critical  for  him,  as  a  citizen  of  that  city 
of  horrible  wickedness.  Thus  it  is  that  the  critical  moments  of 
life  usually  pass  us  unperceived,  and  there  is  for  us  no  other  safe 
rule  but  these:  "Trust  in  him  at  all  times'''  (Ps.  62:8);  "Do 
righteousness  at  all  times"  (Ps.  106:3);  and,  "Pray  without  ceas- 
ing."   1  Thes.  5:  17. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  minutely  into  the  events  of  that 
night.  The  entrance  of  such  distinguished  strangers  through 
the  principal  gate  of  the  city,  had  called  greatly  the  public  atten- 
tion; and  the  beauty  of  their  persons  (as  befitted  their  exalted 
character  and  mission),  awakened  the  depraved  passions  of  those 
base  wretches,  whose  city  has  given  name  to  the  most  destestable 
of  vices.  The  rights  and  duties  of  hospitality,  eulogized  by  the 
wise  of  all  ages,  have  been  held  most  sacred  among  all  the  nations 
who  possess  even  the  rudiments  of  civilization.  The  modern  use 
of  hotels,  and  houses  of  public  entertainment,  has  greatly  changed 
the  forms  of  hospitality;  but  where  these  are  not  to  be  found, 
private  individuals  have  necessarily  to  exercise  it,  or  men  re- 
lapse into  a  state  of  savagery;  and  the  duty  of  protecting  the 
person  of  a  guest  has  always  been  counted  among  the  most  sacred 
of  obligations.  The  Bedouin  of  the  desert,  who  would  kill  a 
stranger  without  Bcruple  on  meeting  him  outside  his  nomadic  en- 


CHAPTER   19:1—11  Sl9 

campmfent,  if  for  any  cause  he  has  received  him  into  his  tent,  will 
defend  him  at  the  cost  of  his  own  blood;  and  once  a  stranger  has 
eaten  of  his  food,  the  Arab  holds  himself  as  obliged  thence- 
forward to  treat  him  as  a  friend.  Lot  having  invited  the  two 
strangers  to  come  under  the  shelter  of  his  roof,  on  seeing  the 
violence  that  the  people  of  his  town  wished  to  do  them,  used  this 
as  his  principal  argument  why  they  should  leave  them  in  peace: 
"Forasmuch  as  they  are  come  under  the  shadow  of  my  roof."  He 
exposed  his  own  person  nobly  in  their  defence,  going  out  to  the 
insensate  and  brutal  crowd,  to  bring  those  shameless  profligates 
to  their  senses;  but  we  can  find  no  words  adequate  to  reprobate 
the  proposal  which  he  made,  of  sacrificing  his  two  daughters  in 
defence  of  his  guests — a  thing  which  his  celestial  visitors  would 
never  have  permitted;  and  they,  seeing  how  the  fierce  crowd  threw 
themselves  upon  Lot  and  that  they  were  doing  their  utmost  to 
break  the  door,  put  forth  their  hands  and  pulled  him  in  to  them, 
smiting  the  assailants  also  with  blindness;  and  they,  though  blind, 
wearied  themselves  in  their  fruitless  endeavors  to  find  the  door. 

The  proposal  which  Lot  made  to  those  brutish  ruffians,  to  sacri- 
fice his  two  daughters  in  defence  of  his  guests,  brings  to  mind  the 
observation  already  made  in  the  case  of  Abraham  when  he  denied 
his  wife  in  Egypt;  to  the  effect  that  the  honor  and  purity  of 
women,  and  above  all,  of  unmarried  women,  were  in  those  times 
matters  of  very  little  importance,  compared  with  what  the  Chris- 
tian religion  has  made  them.  Without  this,  woman  is  and  every- 
where has  been  regarded  as  the  slave  and  plaything  of  man.  Five 
hundred  years  after  the  days  of  Lot,  the  respectable  old  man  who 
in  Gibeah  entertained  the  traveling  Levite,  made  the  identical 
proposal  of  sacrificing  his  daughter  in  the  defence  of  his  guest; 
while  the  Levite,  in  fact,  delivered  up  his  concubine-wife  to  the 
crowd,  in  order  to  save  his  own  person.    Judg.  19:  24,  25. 

This  manifestation  of  bestial  passion  seems  almost  incredible 
to  us;  and  nevertheless,  the  whole  of  it  was  repeated,  literally  re- 
peated, by  the  Inhabitants  of  Gibeah  of  Benjamin,  in  the  case 
just  indicated;  for  whom  Moses  had  to  no  purpose  written  the 
story  of  Sodom;  and  they  brought  upon  themselves  and  upon  their 
tribe  a  vengeance  little  less  horrible  than  the  divine  judgment 
which  overthrew  Sodom  with  terrible  destruction.  See  Judges, 
chs.  19,  20  and  21.  Lot  was  a  man  of  the  highest  respectability; 
but  this  availed  him  very  little  that  night.  They  looked  upon 
him  still  as  a  foreigner,  a  man  foreign  to  their  ways  and  their 
religion  (if  they  had  any),  and  they  regarded  it  as  a  great  imperti- 
nence on  his  part  that  he  should  undertake  to  give  them  lessons 
in  good  morals,  or  Interpose  to  prevent  the  attainment  of  their 


220  GENESIS 

wishes.  The  little  he  had  left  of  the  religion  of  his  uncle  made 
him  a  marl^  for  the  derision  and  hatred  of  the  citizens  of  Sodom: 
"This  one  fellow  (they  exclaimed)  came  in  to  sojourn,  and  he  will 
needs  be  a  judge!  Now  will  we  deal  worse  with  thee  than  with 
them!"  Vr.  9.  The  poor  and  vacillating  Lot!  He  was  neither  one 
thing  nor  the  other.  How  far  was  he  from  possessing  the  firm, 
resolute  and  decided  character  of  the  "believing  Abraham!" 

19:  12 — 14.       ANGELS.       THE    FAMILY    OF    LOT.       THE    WABNIXG    DISKE- 
GARDED.        (1897    B.    C.) 

12  And  the  men  said  unto  Lot,  Hast  thou  here  any  besides?  son- 
in-law,  and  thy  sons,  and  thy  daughters,  and  whomsoever  thou  hast 
in  the  city,  bring  them  out  of  the  place : 

13  for  we  will  destroy  this  place,  because  the  cry  of  them  is 
waxed  great  before  Jehovah ;  and  Jehovah  hath  sent  us  to  destroy  it. 

14  And  Lot  went  out,  and  spake  unto  his  sons-in-law,  who  mar- 
ried* his  daughters,  and  said.  Up,  get  you  out  of  this  place ;  for 
Jehovah  will  destroy  the  city.  But  he  seemed  unto  his  sons-in-law 
as  one  that  mocked. 

*0r,  were  to  marry. 

The  "angels"  of  vr.  1  are  here  called  "men,"  as  in  ch.  18:  2,  and 
again  are  called  "angels"  in  vr.  15.  For  the  first  time  we  have 
mention  of  "angels"  in  this  chapter,  except  "the  Angel  of  Je- 
hovah," who  appeared  to  Hagar  (ch.  16:7),  which  is  quite  a 
different  matter;  and  it  will  not  be  amiss  for  us  to  stop  at  this 
point  and  consider  the  subject  a  little.  We  ought  at  once  to  free 
ourselves  of  the  erroneous  belief,  created  chiefly  perhaps  by  the 
poets  and  artists,  that  angels  have  wings  and  fly  with  them.  The 
"cherubim"  and  "seraphim"  are  represented  in  the  Bible  as  having 
wings — two,  four,  and  even  six,  each;  but  although  the  hierarchy 
of  heaven  is  something  almost  unknown  to  us,  on  reading  of  the 
"Archangel"  (not  several,  but  one  only),  of  "angels,"  of  "authori- 
ties," of  "thrones,"  of  "dominions,"  of  "principalities,"  of  "pow- 
ers," we  may  say  that  the  "cherubim"  (of  whom  we  treated  some- 
what in  commenting  on  ch.  3:  24),  and  the  "seraphim"  (mentioned 
only  by  Isaiah,  in  Isa.  6:  2,  6),  are  not  "angels"  (=  messengers,  or 
"sent  ones"),  and  in  fact  we  are  never  told  that  they  are  "messen- 
gers" of  God,  nor  "sent"  by  him  with  any  commission;  and  so  of 
the  others  to  whom  allusion  has  been  made.  In  Holy  Scripture 
not  even  once  are  "angels"  spoken  of  as  winged  beings.  Three 
times  (Dan.  9:  21;  Rev.  8:  13;  14:  6)  an  angel  is  spoken  of  as 
"flying,"  and  if  we  please  we  may  imagine  him  as  flying  icith  ex- 
tended wings;  but  if  the  frequent  mention  of  "the  shadow  of  Je- 
hovah's wings"  does  not  give  us  to  understand  that  "when  Je- 
hovah appeared  to  Abraham,"  he  came  in  the  form  of  a  winged 


CHAPTER  19:  12—14  221 

man,  it  is  not  a  likely  supposition  that  the  angels  who  appeared 
to  Abraham,  to  Hagar,  to  Lot,  to  Baalam,  to  Jacob,  to  Joshua,  to 
Gideon,  to  Daniel,  to  Mary,  to  Joseph,  to  Zacharias,  to  Peter,  to 
Paul,  to  John  and  to  others,  presented  themselves  to  them  as 
winged  beings.  Neither  will  it  be  proper  to  imagine  that,  because 
the  angels  sent  with  commissions  from  heaven  to  earth  presented 
themselves  in  the  form  of  men,  therefore  they  must  necessarily 
have  the  same  form  when  they  present  themselves  in  heaven  be- 
fore God.  It  will  be  a  good  thing  for  us  to  accustom  ourselves  to 
reflect  that  all  our  personal  knowledge  is  limited  to  the  objects 
and  types  of  this  terraqueous  globe  of  ours,  and  that  our  ideas  are 
cast  in  the  mould  of  corporeal  things  that  do  not  rise  two  full 
leagues  above  the  soil  we  tread,  and  habituate  ourselves  to  wait 
with  patience,  with  modesty  and  moderation  until  the  great  God 
shall  show  us  things  of  his  own,  belonging  to  a  higher  sphere. 
"If  I  have  told  you  earthly  things — things  on  earth — and  ye  be- 
lieve not,  how  shall  ye  believe  if  I  tell  you  of  heavenly  things" 
or  things  in  heaven?    John  3:  12. 

But  the  hour  of  doom  for  Sodom  was  rapidly  hastening  on. 
Without  any  investigation  whatever,  of  itself  "Sodom  declared  its 
sin  and  hid  it  not"  (Isa.  3:  9),  and  the  verdict  of  heaven  took 
immediate  effect.  The  sun  of  another  day,  or  the  moon  of  an- 
other night,  was  not  to  witness  the  enormities  which  all  practiced 
there  (see  vr.  4) — and  shamelessly;  and  there  were  not  "found 
there  ten  righteous  persons"  to  put  in  fear  or  to  shame  those 
workers  of  iniquity.  Time  was  urgent.  The  men  hurriedly  asked 
Lot  about  his  family:  "Hast  thou  here  any  besides?  son-in-law, 
and  thy  sons  and  thy  daughters,  and  whomsoever  thou  hast  in  the 
city,  bring  them  out  of  the  place;  for  we  will  destroy  this  place, 
because  the  cry  of  them  is  waxen  great  before  Jehovah;  and  Je- 
hovah hath  sent  us  to  destroy  it."  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
physical  cause  of  this  destruction,  these  two  angels  gave  the 
order  which  put  it  into  operation;  and  until  they  gave  the  order^ 
the  cause  or  causes  remained  inoperative.  Vr.  22.  Fortunately 
Lot  had  no  sons;  Sodom  would  have  been  a  bad  place  for  the 
education  of  boys.  Sons-in-law  indeed  he  had,  and  married  daugh- 
ters; who  would  naturally  pay  more  attention  to  their  husbands 
than  to  their  father.  With  regard  to  these  "sons-in-law"  there 
is  dispute,  as  to  whether  they  were  sons-in-law  in  fact,  or  only  in 
prospect.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  the  use  of  any  people  to 
call  those  "sons-in-law"  who  are  only  engaged  to  one's  daughters. 
In  any  case,  when  the  angels  asked  after  the  members  of  his 
family,  "sons-in-law,  and  thy  sons  and  thy  daughters,"  it  is 
clear  that  they  inquired  after  the  husbands  of  his  married  daugh- 


222  GENESIS 

ters;  and  when  vr.  14  says  that  "Lot  went  out  and  spoke  with  his 
sons-in-law,"  the  word  is  naturally  to  be  understood  in  that  sense. 
It  is  certain  that  the  words  can  without  violence  be  translated 
"sons-in-law,  who  were  to  take  his  daughters" — the  unmarried 
daughters  he  had  there  at  home — if  there  were  any  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  they  were  only  engaged  to  be  married.  But  of  this  there 
is  not  a  vestige  of  proof  or  even  a  suggestion;  and  when  the  day 
was  dawning,  and  the  angels  pressed  Lot  saying:  "Arise,  take  thy 
wife  and  thy  two  daughters  that  are  here,  lest  thou  be  consumed 
in  the  punishment  of  the  city"  (vr.  15),  it  is  evident  that  they 
now  understood  that  he  had  daughters  somewhere  else.  Four 
daughters,  then,  at  least,  had  Lot;  two  married,  and  two  single 
ones  at  home. 

But  the  urgency  that  Lot  used  with  his  sons-in-law  bore  little 
fruit;  it  all  seemed  to  them  like  an  untimely  jest,  an  unseasonable 
practical  joke  he  was  playing  off  on  them;  and  the  more  urgent 
he  became  to  convince  them  of  the  danger  which  threatened  them, 
the  more  convinced  they  became  that  the  man  had  lost  his  senses: 
"An  old  imbecile!"  "A  terrified  old  dotard,  who  had  perhaps  been 
sleeping  badly!"  It  is  evident  that  the  little  religion  that  re- 
mained to  Lot  in  Sodom,  did  not  give  him  any  more  credit  with 
his  own  family  than  with  his  fellow-citizens.  The  same  thing 
happens  with  worldly  Christians  today,  when  they  talk  of  re- 
ligion to  those  who  know  them.  Lot  did  not  gain  any  more  with 
his  married  daughters,  than  with  their  husbands.  If  he  had  said 
to  them  that  the  house  tvas  afire,  at  once  they  would  have  got  up 
to  save  themselves;  but  to  tell  them,  and  passionately,  that  Je- 
hovah was  going  to  destroy  the  city  with  fire,  rained  down  from 
heaven,  was  an  evident  sign  that  the  man  was  crazy. 

And  so  it  is  that  multitudes  of  persons,  and  even  many  who  pro- 
fess faith  in  Christ,  look  upon  all  serious  treatment  of  the  Second 
Advent  of  the  Lord,  and  the  Day  of  Judgment,  as  matters  of  no 
personal  concern  to  them;  and  they  believe,  and  sometimes  say 
so,  that  our  Lord  and  his  apostles,  went  a  little  astray,  in  their 
preaching,  and  in  their  writings,  in  the  importance  and  promi- 
nence which  they  gave  to  this  subject,  "so  many  ages  ahead  of 
time'':  forgetful  or  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  day  of  Jesus 
Christ,  "the  Great  Day  of  God  Almighty"  (Rev.  16:  14),  is  a  day 
as  great  for  the  dead  as  for  the  living,  and  that  it  is  all  practically 
one  with  us  whether  Christ  at  his  coming  wake  us  from  our  graves 
or  from  our  beds;  and  for  that  reason  a  thousand  years  more  or 
less,  in  the  question  of  time,,  is  a  matter  of  no  importance  to  us, 
provided  we  keep  it  always  in  view,  and  live  in  such  a  way  that 
we  "shall  have  confidence  in  the  day  of  judgment,"  "and  be  not 


CHAPTER  19:  15—22  223 

ashamed  before  him  at  his  coming."  1  John  2:  28  and  4:  17.  See 
Rev.  16:  14;  2  Tim.  4:  1;  Acts  10:  42;  17:  30,  31;  Matt.  16:  27; 
Lulve  21:  34,  36;  Matt.  10:  15;  11:  23,  24;  Luke  17:  28—30;  Rom. 
2:  3—16;  1  Thess.  5:  4;  2  Pet.  2:  6,  7;  Jude  5,  7. 

19:  15 — 22.    LOT  is  still  undecided,  and  clings  to  his  wobldlt 

INTERESTS.       (1897   B.   C.) 

15  And  when  the  morning  arose,  then  the  angels  hastened  Lot, 

saying,  arise,  talje  thy  wife,  and  tliy  two  daughters  that  are  here, 
lest  thou  be  consumerl  in  the  iniquity  of  the  city. 

16  But  he  lingered ;  and  tlie  men  laid  hold  upon  his  hand,  and 
upon  the  hand  of  his  wife,  and  upon  the  hand  of  his  two  daughters, 
Jehovah  being  merciful  unto  him  :  and  they  brought  him  forth,  and  set 
him  without  the  city. 

17  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  they  had  brought  them  forth 
abroad,  that  he  said.  Escape  for  thy  life ;  look  not  behind  thee, 
neither  stay  thou  in  all  the  Plain;  escape  to  the  mountains,  lest 
thou  be  consumed. 

18  And  Lot  said  unto  them,  Oh,  not  so,  my  lord : 

19  behold  now.  thy  servant  hath  found  favor  in  thy  sight,  and 
thou  hast  magnified  thy  lovingkindness,  wliich  thou  hast  showed 
unto  me  in  saving  my  life;  and  I  cannot  escape  to  the  mountain,  lest 
evil*  overtake  me,  and  I  die: 

20  behold  now,  this  city  is  near  to  flee  unto,  and  it  is  a  little  one. 
Oh,  let  me  escape  thither  (is  it  not  a  little  one?),  and  my  soul  shall 
live. 

21  And  he  said  unto  him.  See,  I  have  accepted  thee  concerning 
this  thing  also,  that  I  will  not  overthrow  the  city  of  which  thou  hast 
spoken. 

22  Haste  thee,  escape  thither;  for  I  cannot  do  anything  till  thou 
be  come  thither.     Therefore  the  name  of  the  city  was  called  Zoar. 

[•Jieb.   the  evil.] 

Lot  returned  chagrined  and  sad  from  the  homes  of  his  sons-in- 
law,  abandoning  his  married  daughters  to  their  fate, — in  the  rea- 
sonable belief  that,  "sons-in-law"  means  married  men  and  not  men 
about  to  marry.  Confused  and  disconcerted  with  a  thousand 
conflicting  thoughts  and  purposes,  he  made  little  progress  in  ar- 
ranging the  effects  most  necessary  to  carry  with  them  in  their 
precipitate  flight.  When  the  day  was  breaking,  the  angels  urged 
the  prompt  departure  of  those  he  had  at  home,  lest  they  also 
perish  In  the  destruction  of  the  city.  But  Lot  still  delayed. 
Whether  it  was  that  he  hoped  that  at  the  last  moment  his  sons- 
in-law  and  married  daughters  would  resolve  to  accompany  them, 
or  whether  it  was  that  among  his  many  possessions  he  could  not 
decide  which  were  the  effects  most  important  to  take  with  them, 
the  certainty  is  that  like  a  shipwrecked  voyager,  who  allows  him- 
self to  drown  rather  than  let  go  of  his  bags  of  gold,  Lot  waa 
running  the  greatest  risk,  with  the  precious  time  that  he  was 
losing;  until,  in  the  mercy  of  Jehovah  towards  him,  the  men 
laid  hold  of  his  hand,  and  of  the  hand  of  his  wife,  and  pf  the  hand 


224  GENESIS 

of  his  two  daughters,  and  with  a  holy  violence  brought  them 
out,  and  left  them  without  the  city.  Of  the  two  angels  one  was 
evidently  the  superior,  as  we  observed  of  the  three  men  in  front 
of  Abraham's  tent;  and  he  commanded  Lot  that  with  the  utmost 
speed  he  should  escape  for  his  life,  without  looking  back;  and 
that  he  should  not  stop  in  all  the  Plain,  but  escape  to  the  moun- 
tain, lest  he  perish. 

To  this  mountain  range,  then,  which  rose  2000  or  2500  feet  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  Plain,  the  angel  commanded  Lot  that  he 
should  escape  with  the  greatest  haste.  But  Lot  still  interposed 
other  difficulties.  Looking  toward  the  lofty  precipices,  inaccessible 
except  by  the  narrow  valleys  and  steep  defiles  through  which 
entered  the  waters  of  the  elevated  lands  of  what  later  was  the 
country  of  Moab,  he  was  frightened  at  the  apparent  impossibility 
of  finding  a  place  of  safety  there  (forgetful  that  God  would  not 
command  him  to  do  an  impossible  thing  to  save  his  life),  and 
fearful  of  perishing  in  the  conflagration  before  he  could  scale 
those  heights,  he  besought  permission  to  flee  to  the  little  city  of 
Bela,  which  was  there  close  by,  alleging  its  insignificance  as  a 
reason  why  the  angel  should  grant  it  to  him  as  a  place  of  secure 
refuge.  Accepting  his  urgent  plea,  and  sparing  that  city,  which 
was  one  of  the  five,  the  angel  again  commanded  him  to  use  the 
utmost  speed  in  reaching  it,  because  the  case  was  urgent;  and,  "I 
(he  said)  can  do  nothing  until  thou  he  come  thither."  How  con- 
solatory are  these  words,  spoken  to  the  most  worldly  and  least 
consistent  and  well-deserving  of  the  household  of  faith! 

"He  shall  give  his  angels  charge  concerning  thee, 
to  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways."    Ps.  91:    11. 

So  strict  a  charge  had  the  angel  received  to  guard  the  life  of 
this  nephew  of  Abraham,  who  walked  with  limping  steps  the 
path  of  life,  that  they  could  not  execute  their  commission  of 
vengeance  against  those  sinners  among  whom  he  lived,  until 
they  saw  him  in  a  place  of  safety!  For  this  reason  that  city 
Bela  was  afterwards  called  Zoar  (:=  Little). 

19:  23 — 26.     the  catastrophe  of  sodom,  gomoebah,  admah  and 

ZEBOIM,   CITIES   OF  THE  PLAIN.      LOT'S   WIFE.       (1897   B.   C.) 

23  The  sun  was  risen  upon  the  earth  when  Lot  came  unto  Zonr. 

24  Then  Jehovah  rained  upon  Sodom  and  upon  Gomorrah  brim- 
stone and  fire  from  Jehovah  out  of  heaven ; 

25  and  he  overthrew  those  cities,  and  all  the  Plain,  and  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  cities,  and  that  which  grew  upon  the  ground. 

26  But  his  wife  looked  back  from  beliind  him,  and  she  became  a 
pillar  of  salt. 

For  the  last  time  the  sun  had  risen  for  Sodom;  Its  rays  were 


CHAPTER  19:  23—26  225 

shooting  over  the  earth  when  Lot  reached  Zoar.  Little  enough 
time  had  he  to  arrive,  between  day-dawn  and  the  fatal  hour;  for 
in  that  moment  "Jehovah  rained  upon  Sodom,  and  upon  Gomorrah 
brimstone  and  fire  from  Jehovah,  out  of  heaven."  If  the  punish- 
ment of  the  Cities  of  the  Plain  had  occurred  by  night,  it  would 
have  been  more  terrifying;  but  the  deliberate,  dispassionate  and 
irresistible  wrath  of  heaven  would  have  been  less  forcibly  pre- 
sented. The  dangers  and  fears  of  the  night  had  given  place  to 
the  peaceful  light  of  the  morning;  the  sun  was  shooting  its  beau- 
tiful and  benignant  rays,  which  passing  above  the  mountains  on  the 
east,  were  striking  fairly  against  the  mountains  on  the  west  of  the 
sea,  when  Lot  and  his  fugitive  daughters,  with  flying  steps, 
reached  Zoar.  And  now  the  angel  could  do  what  he  was  forbidden 
to  do  until  that  moment;  he  gave  the  order,  and  a  rain  of  brim- 
stone and  fire  fell  from  heaven,  and,  "turning  the  cities  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  into  ashes,  condemned  them  with  an  overthrow, 
making  them  an  example  to  those  who  should  thereafter  live  un- 
godly." 2  Pet.  2:3.  "And  Jehovah  overthrew  (or  'overturned') 
those  cities,  and  all  the  plain" — cities,  soil,  inhabitants  and  all!  In 
the  battle  of  the  four  kings  against  the  five,  those  who  did  not 
fall  by  the  sword,  and  those  who  were  not  taken  captive,  "fled  to 
the  mountain"  (ch.  14:10);  but  on  this  occasion  there  was  none 
to  escape  except  Lot  and  his  family  and  the  city  he  had  begged  as 
a  refuge  for  himself,  and  which,  by  the  especial  protection  of 
heaven,  was  delivered  for  his  sake:  for  from  above  a  rain  of  fire 
was  falling,  and  underfoot  the  solid  earth  was  overturned  by 
horrible  upheavals  and  submersions  of  the  ground. 

This  circumstance,  although  clearly  marked,  and  many  times 
repeated  in  the  original  text  of  Scripture,  both  in  the  Old  and  the 
New  Testament,  seems  in  general  to  have  passed  almost  unper- 
ceived.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  fixing  our  attention,  that  the  He- 
brew of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  Greek  of  the  New  never  men- 
tion this  event  without  words  which  mark  it  as  a  cataclysm,  a 
violent  and  sudden  upturnmg  or  moving  of  the  earth;  an  over- 
turning of  terra  firma.  Thirteen  times  in  the  Old  Testament  the 
Subject  is  referred  to,  and  once  in  the  New,  without  ever  using 
any  other  word  to  characterize  the  phenomenon.  In  the  English 
"Version,  forty-seven  different  words  are  translated  "destroy"  in 
the  Old  Testament,  and  ten  words  in  the  New;  what  signifies 
then,  the  tenacity  with  which  so  many  different  writers  lay  firm 
hold  on  this  word  "overthrow,"  or  "overturn,"  to  describe  the 
destruction  of  Sodom?  In  Hebrew  haphak  signifies  to  turn  upside 
down,  and  although  it  is  used  figuratively  also  (like  the  word 
"overthrow"  in  English),  the  root  idea  is  to  turn,  to  overturn,  to 


226  GENESIS 

turn  upside  dotonj  and  the  same  thing  is  true  of  the  word 
katastrophe  in  the  Greek.  2  Peter  2:6.  It  is  therefore  impos- 
sible that  the  Bible  could  teach  with  greater  clearness  and  per- 
sistency that  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  suffered  a  material  overturn- 
ing or  overthrow ;  and  it  seems  eminently  proper  that  under  these 
circumstances  this  idea  should  be  preserved  in  the  translation, 
and  not  be  lost  sight  of,  by  substituting  therefor,  as  is  done  in 
most  Spanish  Versions,  the  words  "destroy"  and  "destruction." 

No  phenomena  of  physical  nature  have  been  as  much  studied  in 
ancient  and  modern  times  as  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  causes  which/ 
have  produced  its  actual  condition;  but  in  spite*of  the  specula- 
tions and  fables  of  the  ancients,  and  the  scientific  investigations 
of  modern  times,  it  is  possible  that  we  shall  have  to  content  our- 
selves with  the  few  data  furnished  us  by  Holy  Scripture,  till  "the 
men  of  Nineveh  shall  rise  up  in  the  judgment  with  the  men  of 
this  generation"  (Matt.  12:  41),  and)  with  them,  the  men  of 
Sodom;  or  until  we  shall  find  ourselves  with  Lot  himself  and  with 
Abraham,  and  learn  from  them  the  details  of  the  case. 

The  catastrophe  of  Sodom  is  in  the  Bible  attributed  to  two  dis- 
tinct causes;  to  wit,  "brimstone  and  fire"  rained  down  from 
heaven,  and  the  "overturning"  not  only  of  the  cities,  but  of  "all 
the  Plain"  as  well,  by  volcanic  action.  These  two  causes  are  as 
clearly  indicated  in  the  Hebrew  Bible  as  the  two  causes  which 
produced  the  deluge  of  Noah  (to  wit,  40  days  and  40  nights  of 
continued  and  torrential  rain,  and  "the  breaking  up  of  the  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep") ;  and  in  both  cases  the  least  efficient  of 
the  two  is  that  which  has  called  most  our  attention.  Forty  days 
of  such  continued  rains  would  have  caused  a  deluge  on  dry  land, 
but  without  elevating  at  all  the  level  of  the  ocean  (see  comments 
on  ch.  8:1 — 14,  pp.  97 — 100);  and  a  rain  of  brimstone  and  fire — 
or  of  lightnings — from  heaven,  while  burning  up  the  cities,  and 
killing  the  inhabitants,  and  setting  on  fire  the  many  natural  de- 
posits of  bitumen,  or  asphalt,  which  abounded  in  the  Vale  of 
Siddim  (ch.  14:  10),  would  not  have  been  sufficient  to  transform 
that  paradise  of  delights,  comparable  with  "the  garden  of  Je- 
hovah," into  the  frightful  solitude  and  horrible  desert  which  it 
has  since  remained.  It  is  probable,  or  better  said,  it  is  certain 
that  in  the  days  when  the  Vale  of  Siddim  was  a  paradise,  there 
did  not  exist  above  ground  that  enormous  mountain  of  salt  which 
is  now  found  at  the  south  of  the  sea,  but  that  its  appearance 
above  ground  was  due  to  the  upheavals  of  the  earth,  which  ac- 
companied "the  overturning  of  those  cities  and  all  the  Plain"  (vr. 
25) ;  and  it  is  certain  that  from  this  resulted  the  intolerable 
saltness  of  those  waters  and  the  complete  desolation  of  that  large 


CHAPTER   19:  23—26  227 

and  fertile  Plain.  It  is  well  known  that  salt  mines  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  earth  are  to  it  an  inexhaustible  fountain  of  exu- 
berant fertility  and  luxuriant  beauty;  but  above  the  ground,  it  is 
death  to  every  living  vegetable  substance; — as  Moses  says  in 
Deut.  29:  23:  "The  whole  land  thereof  is  brimstone,  and  salt, 
and  burning;  that  it  is  not  sown,  nor  beareth,  nor  any  grass 
groweth  therein;  like  the  overthrow  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
Admah  and  Zeboim,  which  Jehovah  overthrew  in  his  anger  and 
in  his  wrath." 

As  we  know  little  of  the  physical  geography  of  the  depression  of 
the  Arabah  in  the  days  of  Lot,  we  have  not  the  data,  and  prob- 
ably shall  never  have  them  in  this  life,  to  form  a  clear  and  satis- 
factory idea  of  the  causes  and  effects  of  that  overthrow.  The 
opinion,  favored  at  one  time,  and  which  some  still  wish  to  hold, 
that  the  fresh  water  of  the  river  Jordan,  in  the  days  of  Lot 
passed  through  the  Sea  of  Sodom,  purifying  thus  its  waters,  now 
intolerably  salt,  and  finally  emptied  into  the  Red  Sea,  will  have  to 
be  abandoned,  in  virtue  of  the  discovery  in  recent  years,  that  the 
surface  of  that  sea  is  1300  feet  below  the  level  of  the  other.  But 
the  circumstance  that  the  Sea  of  Sodom  has  not,  and  in  the  days 
of  Abraham  and  Lot  did  not  have  an  outlet  for  their  waters,  would 
not  hinder  their  being  at  that  time  healthy  and  good.  The 
catastrophe  of  Sodom  occurred,  according  to  the  common  chro- 
nology about  450  years  after  the  Flood;  and  although  that  may 
have  left  in  the  vast  concavity  of  the  sea  a  large  deposit  of  salt 
water,  nevertheless  the  river  Jordan,  according  to  proximate 
calculations,  discharges  into  it  6,000,000  tons  of  sweet  water  every 
24  hours;  a  quantity  which  in  the  days  of  the  glory  of  Palestine 
was  doubtless  much  greater;  and  this,  together  with  the  rivers 
which  from  all  sides  fell  into  it,  from  the  lands  which  afterwards 
were  those  of  Moab,  of  Edom,  and  of  "the  South"  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah,  would  be  enough  to  preserve  its  waters  as  healthy, 
and  a  fountain  of  as  many  blessings,  as  the  rivers  and  lakes  of 
Damascus,  which  likewise  have  no  outlet;  and  yet  they  make  that 
city  to  be  for  the  Arabian  poets  the  beau  ideal  of  Paradise — 
"the  Eye  of  the  Desert"  and  "the  Pearl  of  the  Orient." 

The  distinguished  German  geologist  Leopold  von  Buch,  whose 
letter  in  reply  to  certain  inquiries  of  his.  Dr.  Robinson  publishes 
in  his  Researches  says:  "Could  some  mass  of  basalt  be  discovered 
in  the  southern  part,  or  towards  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  one  might  believe  that  a  basaltic  dyke  had  been  heaved 
up  at  the  time  of  the  celebrated  catastrophe;  just  as  took  place 
in  1820,  near  the  isle  of  Banda,  and  at  another  time,  at  the  foot 
of  the  volcano  Toruate.     The  movements  which  accompany  the 


228  GENESIS 

breaking  out  of  such  a  dyke,  are  of  a  character  to  produce  all  the 
phenomena  which  have  changed  this  interesting  region,  without 
exercising  any  very  marked  influence  upon  the  form  and  con- 
figuration of  the  mountains  round  about.  The  fertility  of  the  soil 
depends  sometimes  upon  light  accidents.  It  is  not  probable  that 
bitumen  would  be  adapted  to  augment  it.  But  it  is  very  possible, 
that  earthquakes  may  have  brought  out  a  larger  mass  of  fossil 
salt;  which,  being  carried  by  the  waters  to  the  bottom  of  the 
valley,  would  suffice  to  take  away  its  productive  power."  And 
then  he  adds,  with  a  certain  disagreeable  flavor  of  German  infi- 
delity: "Lot  would  hardly  have  been  so  struck  with  the  fossil 
salt,  as  to  suppose  that  his  wife  was  changed  into  salt,  had  there 
been  any  knowledge  of  its  existence  between  the  layers  of  the 
mountain,  before  the  remarkable  catastrophe."  Biblical  Re- 
searches, Vol.  II.  pp.  607,  608.  According  to  this,  that  enormous 
mountain  of  fossil  salt,  seven  miles  long,  two  or  three  wide,  and 
100  to  150  feet  high  (which  touches  the  sea  on  the  southern  part), 
either  did  not  exist  above  the  ground  before  that  time,  or  was  so 
buried  beneath  a  covering  of  good  earth,  that  it  communicated 
freshness  and  exuberant  fertility  to  the  soil;  as  happens  in  the 
country  surrounding  salt  mines  today;  but  raised  from  beneath 
the  valley,  or  denuded  of  its  covering  of  earth,  it  would  transform 
that  image  of  the  paradise  of  Jehovah  into  a  complete  desolation; 
as  it  has  been  from  that  day  to  this.  Some  volcano  which  sud- 
denly vomited  brimstone  and  fire  upon  the  condemned  cities,  set- 
ting in  conflagration  at  the  same  time  the  great  quantities  of 
bitumen  or  asphalt,  to  the  south  of  the  sea,  accompanied  likewise 
by  upheavals  and  depressions  of  the  earth,  elevating  that  moun- 
tain of  fossil  salt  and  sowing  with  salt  all  those  regions,  and,  in 
fine,  leaving  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea  that  enormous  abyss  of 
1300  feet  in  depth,  to  be  filled  up  with  those  waters  accursed  of 
God,  would  completely  meet  the  conditions  of  the  case,  "without 
exercising  any  very  marked  influence  upon  the  form  and  con- 
figuration of  the  mountains  round  about."  But  in  the  revelations 
of  the  Day  of  Judgment,  when  Lot  and  his  fellow  citizens  shall 
give  an  account  of  themselves,  and  when  the  Lord  "shall  bring 
to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness  and  make  manifest  the 
counsels  of  the  heart"  (1  Cor.  3:  5),  we  shall  know  all  about  it. 
In  view  of  the  profound  interest  which  this  subject  inspires,  I 
have  extended  my  comments  perhaps  more  than  was  necessary 
upon  this  catastrophe  of  Sodom: — that  imperishable  monument  of 
the  wrath  of  God  against  the  unbridled  excesses  of  wicked  men. 
If  any  reader  should  not  be  pleased  to  have  me  account  for  this 
tremendous  chastisement  Of  the  sinners  of  Sodom  in  great  part 


CHAPTER  19:  23—26  229 

by  natural  causes,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  remind  him  that  in  the 
Bible  little  account  is  made  of  secondary  causes,  and  the  great 
God  is  he  who  does  it  all,  whether  mediately  or  immediately: 
"Your  heavenly  Father  maketh  his  sun  to  arise  upon  the  evil  and 
the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust."  Matt. 
5:  45. 

To  this  point  is  reserved  the  account  of  the  sad  fate  of  Lot's 
wife.  After  relating  the  complete  destruction  of  Sodom,  Moses 
says  that  Lot's  wife,  who  followed  along  after  him,  had  looked 
back,  against  the  express  order  of  the  angel  (vr.  17),  and  had 
been  converted  into  a  pillar,  or  monument,  of  salt.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  nothing  remains  of  such  a  monument  in  our  day;  and 
in  a  "Valley  of  Salt"  (as  it  is  called  in  2  Sam.  8:  13),  where  a 
whole  mountain  of  salt  stands  bare  and  naked,  on  whose  abrupt 
declivities  Robinson  relates  that  he  repeatedly  saw  "precipices 
forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  and  hundreds  of  feet  long,  of  pure  crystal- 
lized fossil  salt,"  cut  into  rude  columns  by  the  rains,  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  Josephus  (and  several  of  the  fathers  of  the  Ancient 
Church)  should  have  found  some  upright  blocks  of  salt  which 
reminded  him  of  the  pillar  of  salt,  which  in  the  days  of  Abraham 
commemorated  the  little  wisdom  and  the  tragic  end  of  Lot's 
wife. 

What  might  be  her  motive  for  looking  back,  it  is  not  hard 
for  us  to  conceive: — the  place  of  her  birth  and  education;  the 
home  of  her  brothers  and  sisters,  her  parents  and  friends;  the 
place  where  her  married  daughters  had  remained;  the  city  which 
contained  all  her  worldly  possessions  (which  were  not  small), 
forming  in  their  aggregate  all  that  on  which  her  affections  were 
placed! — "where  her  treasure  was  there  was  her  heart  also;" 
and  her  eyes  obeying  the  promptings  of  her  heart,  she  turned 
and  looked  thitherward,  to  see  if  in  fact  any  harm  had  happened 
to  it,  and  perhaps  with  some  doubt  whether  their  precipitate 
flight  had  not  been  a  useless  sacrifice  of  their  worldly  interests, 
or  an  act  of  egregious  folly.  Lot  and  his  two  daughters  entered 
Zoar;  but  on  looking  for  the  wife  and  mother,  she  was  not  to  be 
found!  Later  they  found  her  on  the  road,  turned  into  a  pillar  or 
monument  of  salt. 

On  this  tragic  event  Jesus  based  a  solemn  admonition  to  his 
disciples  (and  to  us  no  less)  with  regard  to  the  haste  with  which 
we  should  prepare,  and  be  always  prepared,  for  the  day  of  his 
coming  in  power  and  glory:  "Remember  Lot's  wife!"  Luke  17: 
13.  An  admonition  is  this  which  is  suitable  to  all  real  Christians 
— and  was  intended  to  be — for  all  time,  and  down  to  the  Consum- 
mation of  the  Ages;  since  the  time  of  our  Lord's  return  is  pur- 


230  GENESIS 

posely  hidden  from  us,  and  from  all  heaven  as  well.  Matt.  24: 
36.  And  indeed  that  day  is  so  incomparably  great — "the  great 
day  of  God  Almighty" — that  the  question  of  the  time  is  a  matter 
of  practically  no  importance,  and  a  thousand  years  sooner  or  a 
thousand  years  later,  do  not  weigh  a  feather  in  the  great  account; 
— as  great  to  the  dead  as  to  the  living,  to  holy  Abel  who  has  been 
6000  years  in  heaven,  as  to  the  last  sinner  who  shall  -repent  and 
believe  unto  life  everlasting.  The  admonition  was  therefore  as 
timely  in  Christ's  day  as  in  our  own,  or  as  it  ever  will  be;  the 
day  is  none  the  greater  for  being  in  fact  very  near,  and  none  the 
less  important  to  us,  for  being  at  least  another  thousand  years  in 
the  future.  And  in  many  respects  this  resembles  the  admonition 
which  two  apostles  based  on  the  never-to-be-forgotten  fact  that, 
with  two  exceptions,  the  people  who  came  so  happily  out  of 
Egypt,  never  arrived  at  Canaan,  since  through  their  own  un- 
belief and  disobedience  they  "were  overthrown  in  the  wilderness." 
1  Cor.  10:  1—11;  Heb.  3:  16—4:  1;  Jude  5.  The  wife  of  Lot  came 
forth  unharmed  from  Sodom;  but  by  her  unbelief,  disobedience, 
and  dilatoriness  to  "flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,"  and  her  attach- 
ment to  worldly  goods  and  interests,  she  remained  half  way  of  the 
short  journey,  turned  into  a  pillar  of  salt.  It  is  also  never  to  be 
forgotten  or  lost  sight  of  that  in  presenting  us  this  example  of 
Lot,  of  Sodom  and  of  the  wife  of  Lot,  Jesus  himself  guarantees 
to  us  the  authenticity  and  minute  accuracy  of  this  history.  Luke 
17:  28—32. 

19:  27 — 29.  Abraham  sees  the  smoke  of  the  conflagration  from 
a  distance.    (1897  b.  c.) 

27  And  Abraham  gat  up  early  in  the  morning  to  the  place  where 
he  had  stood  before  Jehovah  : 

28  and  he  looked  toward  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  toward  all 
the  land  of  the  Plain,  and  beheld,  and  lo,  the  smoke  of  the  land  went 
up  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace. 

29  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  God  destroyed  the  cities  of  the 
Plain,  that  God  remembered  Abraham,  and  sent  Lot  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  overthrow,  when  he  overthrew  the  cities  in  which  Lot 
dwelt. 

The  Vale  of  Siddim  was  4300  feet  below  the  elevated  point  of 
observation  which  Abraham  occupied,  near  Hebron,  when  he  in- 
terceded for  Sodom  with  Jehovah,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  preced- 
ing day;  he  could  not  save  Sodom,  but  he  did  save  Lot  and  his  fam- 
ily from  that  ruin.  Hebron  stands  in  a  direct  line  some  16  miles 
from  En-gedi,  whither  the  angels  had  directed  their  steps  on  the 
way  to  Sodom  (ch.  18:22);  and  Abraham,  looking  across  the 
mountain  country,  could  see,  not  the  waters  of  the  sea  (visible 
from  the  Mount  of  Olives,  near  to  Jerusalem),  but  he  could  see 


CHAPTER  19:  27—29  231 

perfectly  the  vast  depression  between  the  mountain  ranges, 
which  was  the  site  of  the  sea;  "and  looking  towards  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  and  toward  all  the  land  of  the  Plain,  he  beheld, 
and  lo!  the  smoke  of  the  land  went  up,  as  the  smoke  of  a  fur- 
nace." On  the  western  side  of  the  sea,  in  all  its  length,  the  moun- 
tains rise  precipitously  1500  feet  above  the  waters;  and  2000 
to  2500  feet  on  the  eastern  side.  It  was  therefore  materially  im- 
possible that  15  miles  away  Abraham  should  see  the  Vale  of  Sid- 
dim  and  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan;  but  stretching  his  vision  over 
and  in  the  direction  of  Sodom  and  the  Vale  of  Siddim,  he  saw 
the  dense  columns  of  smoke  that  went  up. 

If  "all  the  Plain,"  in  vr.  28,  includes  all  the  space  embraced 
by  the  corresponding  phrase,  in  ch.  13:  19,  "all  the  Plain  of  the 
Jordan"  that  Lot  beheld  (see  T<[ote  20,  on  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan), 
then  the  catastrophe  of  Sodom  must  have  been  much  more  exten- 
sive than  is  commonly  supposed;  embracing  fully  half  of  the 
valley  of  the  Jordan  (which  is  expressly  so  called  at  the  brass 
foundries  of  King  Solomon;  see  1  Kings  7:  46,  R.  V.),  opening 
anew  the  cleft  or  fracture  of  the  rocky  substratum  of  the  country, 
which  originally  created  the  long,  wide  and  deep  depression  of 
"the  Arabah"  (see  comments  on  Peleg,  ch.  10:  25,  p.  129),  and 
causing,  with  the  inrushing  waters  of  the  Jordan,  clouds  of 
steam,  which  might  well  compete  with  "the  smoke  of  a  furnace," 
which  arose  from  the  Cities  of  the  Plain  and  the  concavity  of  the 
Sea  of  Sodom.  But  if  the  Mosaic  account  is  strictly  interpreted, 
"the  Plain  of  the  Jordan"  extended  no  farther  south  than  the 
northern  extremity  of  the  sea,  where  "the  Plain,"  of  which  "the 
Cities  of  the  Plain"  formed  a  part,  began;  for,  as  I  have  already 
indicated,  the  Bible  never  says  that  these  cities  were  situated  in 
"the  Plain  of  the  Jordan."  The  Hebrew  word  {kiJckar),  which  is 
never  but  once  used  of  any  other  "plain,"  means  literally  "circuit" 
or  "surroundings,"  and  it  is  probable  that  the  two,  "the  circuit"  or 
"surroundings"  of  the  Jordan  and  "the  circuit"  or  "surroundings" 
of  the  sea,  were  regarded  as  practically  one,  overlapping  each 
other  at  the  north  of  the  Sea  of  Sodom,  where  they  joined;  and 
that  the  "kikkar"  of  the  Jordan  and  the  "kikkar"  of  the  five  cities 
were  terms  of  vague  use,  extending  all  the  way  from  the  midlands 
of  Jordan,  where  Solomon  had  his  brass  foundries,  to  beyond  the 
southern  limits  of  the  Sea  of  Sodom.  It  is  not  necessary,  there- 
fore, to  understand  that  "all  the  land  of  the  Plain,"  in  vr.  28, 
extended  farther  towards  the  north  than  the  present  limits  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  or  included  any  part  of  the  "Plain  of  the  Jordan," 
properly  so  called. 

As  Abraham  rose  up  very  early  in  the  morning  to  go  to  his 


232  GENESIS 

point  of  observation,  he  would  necessarily  have  witnessed  the 
discharge  of  brimstone  and  fire  passing  through  the  aerial  heavens 
upon  Sodom,  if  such  there  had  been:  since  it  did  not  begin  till 
Lot  entered  Sodom,  after  the  sun  had  arisen  upon  the  earth.  Vr. 
23.  This  seems  to  me  a  fact  of  great  importance;  for  we  are 
not  told  anything  of  the  kind.  Nor  did  he  see  the  flames  either, 
but  only  dense  clouds  of  smoke.  We  seem  to  have  in  this  a 
notable  confirmation  of  the  authenticity  and  accuracy  of  the 
story  in  Genesis.  A  writer  of  fiction  would  have  presented  the 
whole  scene  to  the  vision  of  Abraham.  One  of  the  most  respect- 
able and  estimable  of  commentators  says  "that  he  went  to  the 
spot  where  he  had  the  day  before  held  his  favored  communion 
with  Jehovah,  which  was  doubtless  a  position  commanding  a  full 
view  of  the  Cities  of  the  Plain,  and  the  adjacent  valley  of  the 
Jordan.  And  here,  what  a  scene  of  woe  bursts  upon  his  sight!" 
"Not  the  buildings  only  and  the  inhabitants  are  sinking  in  the 
conflagration,  but  the  very  ground  itself  on  which  they  stood 
shares  in  the  awful  catastrophe!  Sulphureous  smoke,  mingled 
with  lurid  gleams  of  fire,  is  constantly  rising  up  in  dense,  pitchy 
masses,  and  constitutes  all  that  Abraham  is  now  able  to  see." 
Bush's  Notes,  "Vol.  I,  p.  328.  I  repeat,  it  is  remarkable  that  the 
text  says  nothing  about  all  this.  With  the  Researches  of  Robin- 
son and  others  in  our  hands,  we  now  know  that  Abraham  would 
have  had  to  travel  five  or  six  leagues  by  the  roughest  of  winding 
mountain  paths  in  order  to  reach  a  point  of  observation  over- 
looking that  scene  and  offering  to  his  sight  that  horrible  spectacle; 
but  at  the  distance  of  five  leagues,  in  that  clear,  diaphanous  at- 
mosphere, he  could  have  seen  and  noticed  that  rain  of  fire  and 
burning  brimstone,  if  it  descended  through  the  atmospheric 
heavens,  which  have  an  elevation  of  at  least  fifty  miles  above  the 
earth;  all  which  suggests  the  idea  that  possibly  that  rain  of 
brimstone  and  fire  may  have  been  the  effect  of  a  sudden  outburst 
of  a  volcano  situated  in  the  bottom  of  the  valley;  perhaps  in  the 
very  part  where  the  sea  now  measures  1300  feet  in  depth,  and 
which  so  much  resembles  the  crater  of  an  extinct  volcano.  If 
such  a  discharge  of  fire  and  brimstone  did  not  rise  3000  feet,  it 
would  have  been  hidden  from  the  eyes  of  Abraham  by  the  lofty 
mountains  which  overhang  the  western  side  of  tjie  sea,  and  fill 
up  the  intervening  distance  of  15  or  16  miles.* 

•The  recent  terrific  destruction  of  cities  and  towns  and  estates  by  tlie 
explosion  of  the  volcano  PelCe,  in  the  Island  of  Martinique,  West  Indies, 
In  the  year  1902,  may  well  illustrate  what  I  suppose  is  meant  by  "brim- 
stone and  fire  from  heaven,"  in  the  case  of  the  guilty  Cities  of  the 
Plain  ;  though  probably  on  a  much  smaller  scale.  The  rain  of  "brimstone 
and  fire"  and  incandescent  ashes,  though  thi-own  to  a  vast  height,  would 


CHAPTER  19:  30—38  233 

19:  30 — 38.     lot  and  his  two  daughters.      (1897  b.  c.) 

30  And  Lot  went  up  out  of  Zoar,  and  dwelt  in  the  mountain,  and 
his  two  daughters  with  hini ;  for  he  feared  to  dwell  in  Zoar  :  and  he 
dwelt  in  a  cave,  he  and  his  two  daughters. 

31  And  the  first-born  said  unto  the  younger.  Our  father  is  old, 
and  there  is  not  a  man  in  the  earth  to  come  in  unto  us  after  the 
manner  of  all   the   earth : 

32  come,  let  us  make  our  father  drink  wine,  and  we  will  lie 
with  him,  that  we  may  preserve  seed  of  our  father. 

33  And  they  made  their  father  drink  wine  that  night :  and  the 
first-born  went  in,  and  lay  with  her  father;  and  he  knew  not  when  she 
lay  down,  nor  when  she  arose. 

34  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow,  that  the  first-born  said 
unto  the  younger.  Behold,  I  lay  yesternight  with  my  father  :  let  us 
mnke  him  drink  wine  this  night  also;  and  go  thou  in,  and  lie  with 
him,  that  we  may  preserve  seed  of  our  father, 

35  And  they  made  their  father  drink  wine  that  night  also  :  and 
the  younger  arose,  and  Iny  with  him;  and  he  knew  not  when  she 
lay  down,  nor  when  she  arose. 

36  Thus  were  both  the  daughters  of  Lot  with  child  by  their 
father. 

37  And  the  first-born  bare  a  son,  and  called  his  name  Moab :  the 
same  is   the  father  of  the  Moabites  unto  this  day. 

38  And  tlie  younger,  she  also  bare  a  son,  and  called  his  name 
Ben-Ammi :  the  same  is  the  father  of  the  children  of  Amnion  unto 
this  day. 

Lot  continued  but  a  short  while  in  Zoar,  because  for  some  reason 
he  was  afraid  to  remain  there.  Nothing  shakes  one's  nerves  like 
an  earthquake;  much  more,  such  a  one  as  this.  It  is  probable  or 
certain  that  the  upheavals  of  the  earth,  such  as  caused  the  "over- 
turning of  those  cities  and  all  the  plain,"  would  leave  that 
region  in  a  state  of  volcanic  perturbation  for  a  considerable  time, 
and  the  low  rumbling  of  the  earth,  with  eruptions  of  fire  from 
time  to  time,  threatening  a  second  visitation  of  the  wrath  of 
heaven,  would  keep  Lot  and  his  daughters  in  constant  alarm. 
Zoar  was  situated  at  the  foot  of,  or  somewhat  within,  the  mountain 
range  to  the  east  of  the  sea,  "at  the  mouth  of  Waddy  Kerak,"  says 
Robinson,  (our  Spanish  Bible  Dictionary  locates  it  still  farther 
to  the  south)  that  is  to  say,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  or  torrent 
of  the  ancient  Kir-Moab;  "through  which,  says  Dr.  Robinson, 
used  to  pass  and  still  passes  the  principal  road  between  Judea 

not  have  been  visible  to  Abraham,  had  it  been  vomited  forth  by  a  volcano, 
now  sunken  in  the  Dead  Sea.  *  *  Since  the  above  was  written,  I  have 
read  an  article  from  the  pen  of  the  distinguished  scientist,  Prof.  G. 
Frederick  Wright,  of  Oberlin  College,  Oberlin,  Ohio,  who  has  lately  been 
over  the  ground,  examining  the  topographical  conditions  for  himself ; 
being  already  familiar  with  the  oil-gas  regions  of  the  United  States,  and 
having  recently  visited  "the  still  more  remarkable  oil-flelds  at  Baku,  on 
the  Caspian  Sea ;"  and  his  impressions  incline  him  to  believe  that  the 
secondary  causes  which  produced  the  catastrophe  of  Sodom  were  the 
Ignition  of  vast  subterranean  deposits  of  petroleum  and  gas,  by  volcanic 
agency.     See  Bible  Student  atid  Teacher,  for  June,  1905,  pp.  428,  429. — Tr. 


234  GENESIS 

(round  the  southern  side  of  the  sea)  and  the  country  of  Moab." 
See  also  the  testimony  of  Jerome  and  others,  given  in  Note 
20,  p.  156.  Since,  then,  Zoar  was  the  key  to  Moab  on  its  western 
side,  a  fortified  town  with  a  Roman  garrison  (in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury), at  the  entrance  of  the  mountains,  unless  the  mountains 
should  sink.  Lot  had  no  cause  to  fear  in  that  account;  but 
he  was  afraid,  and  went  still  farther  into  the  mountains.  Perhaps 
also  he  found  himself  ill  at  ease  in  Zoar, — a  stranger,  a  fugitive, 
poor,  and  with  no  more  resources  than  he  was  able  to  bring  with 
him  in  his  precipitate  flight;  and  perhaps  he  was  ill-regarded 
for  what  he,  or  his  God,  had  had  to  do  with  the  calamity  which 
had  come  upon  that  region;  although  it  was  at  his  entreaty  that 
Zoar  escaped  the  general  destruction.  However  that  may  be,  he 
did  not  feel  quiet  or  secure  there,  and  he  went  farther  into  the 
mountains;  where,  finding  a  cave,  he  and  his  daughters  made 
themselves  as  comfortable  as  they  could.  This  the  angel  had 
not  counseled  him  to  do,  nor  would  one  less  wise  than  an  angel 
have  advised  it.  Under  such  circumstances,  a  solitary  and  indo- 
lent life  was  the  worst  he  could  have  chosen.  Tired  of  life  and 
filled  with  melancholy,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  flee  from 
society;  as  in  like  circumstances  men  and  women  not  a  few  have 
taken  refuge  in  convents  and  monasteries,  to  discover,  when 
too  late,  that  these  are  neither  a  safe  refuge,  nor  a  gate  of 
heaven.  The  angel  told  him  that  he  should  escape  to  the  moun- 
tain, in  the  pressing  urgency  of  the  moment;  but  he  would  have 
advised  him  to  return  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  encampment  and 
altar  of  his  uncle  Abraham,  assured  that  he  would  find  there  a 
joyful  welcome.  But  no;  rather,  thought  Lot,  live  a  solitary 
life  in  the  mountains,  with  the  little  he  had  been  able  to  save 
from  the  wreck  of  his  worldly  possessions,  than  to  confess  to  his 
uncle  the  errors  of  his  past  life! 

"What  happened  there,  horrible  as  it  was,  is  not  surprising.  The 
lame  excuse  which  some  have  desired  to  make  for  the  daughters 
of  Lot,  namely,  their  belief  that  the  whole  world  had  perished, 
or  all  the  men  who  could  marry  with  them,  is  an  absurdity,  for 
women  who  had  but  a  little  before  gone  forth  from  Zoar;  which, 
although  a  small  place,  was  sufficiently  large  to  have  a  king 
(ch.  14:  2) ;  and  if  the  excuse  be  pleaded,  that  there  was  no  man  in 
the  earth  who  was  willing  to  marry  young  women  who  had  lost 
all  their  former  possessions,  and  would  go  into  the  mountains  to 
seek  them  in  marriage,  the  truth  which  this  contains  v/ould  not 
excuse  their  detestable  conduct,  any  more  than  it  would  excuse 
it  in  other  women  in  like  circumstances.  Their  father  had  the 
blame  of  exposing  himself  and  them  to  a  life  of  celibacy  in  those 


CHAPTER  20:  1—7  235 

mountains;  as  innumerable  men  and  women  have  found  it  in  the 
solitude  of  the  cloister;  and  Lot  ought  to  have  known  that  two 
damsels  brought  up  in  Sodom,  and  whom  he  himself  but  a  little 
before  had  offered  to  the  brutality  of  the  furious  crowd  that  sur- 
rounded his  house,  could  not  be  regarded  as  patterns  of  modesty 
and  propriety.  The  whole  thing  is  shameful  in  the  extreme,  and 
sets  in  a  clear  light  how  calamity,  and  the  temptations  to  evil- 
doing  which  it  brings,  tenaciously  pursue  those  who  walk  with 
hesitating  steps  the  path  of  duty  and  honor.  For  such  persons 
one  calamity  and  one  fall  are  likely  to  serve  as  stepping-stones 
for  another.  Satan  does  not  know  how  to  pity  the  victims  who 
fall  into  his  nets.  Of  the  Prince  of  Darkness  it  may  be  said,  as 
the  prophet  says  of  the  pitiless  king  of  Babylon,  that  "he  openeth 
not  the  house  of  his  prisoners"  (Isa.  14:  17),  but  rather  he  makes 
their  past  errors  and  sins,  and  the  calamities  that  result  there- 
from, to  serve  them  as  a  temptation  and  excuse  for  other  new 
errors  and  sins.  The  example  of  Lot  lends  emphasis  to  the 
petition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  "Lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but 
deliver  us  from  evil"  (or  from  the  Evil  One);  and  it  teaches  us 
not  merely  to  repeat  the  prayer,  but  to  practice  it  also.  Lot  placed 
himself  in  such  temptation.  The  Bible  relates  the  case  (as  it 
always  does)  in  all  its  revolting  hideousness,  not  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  fools,  nor  for  the  offense  of  the  prudish,  but  for  the 
solemn  admonition  of  all:  "Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth 
take  heed  lest  he  fall."     1  Cor.  10:  12. 

It  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  Moabites  and  the  Ammonites  both 
peopled  that  mountain  country,  where  their  two  fathers  were  born; 
the  Moabites  as  far  to  the  north  as  the  River  Arnon,  which 
empties  into  the  Dead  Sea,  about  midway  of  its  length,  from  north 
to  south,  opposite  to  En-gedi;  and  the  Ammonites  farther  to  the 
north,  between  the  Arnon  and  the  river  Jabbok;  and,  driven  from 
thence  still  later  by  the  Amorites,  they  withdrew  from  the  river 
Jabbok  and  went  farther  into  the  desert  of  Arabia;  but  they 
bordered  still  upon  the  Moabites;  and  the  two  were  always  the 
implacable  enemies  of  the  children  of  Israel. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

VRS.   1 — 7.      ABRAHAM   IN   GEUAR,    WHERE   HE   AGAIN   DENIES   HIS   WIFE. 
(1896    B.    C.) 

1  And  Abraham  journeyed  from  thence  toward  the  land  of  the 
South,  and  dwelt  between  Kadesh  and  Shur ;  and  he  sojourned  in 
Gerar. 

2  And  Abraham  said  of  Sarah  his  wife.  She  is  my  sister:  and 
Abimelech  king  of  Gerar  sent,  and  took  Sarah. 

3  But  God  came  to  Abimelech  in  a  dream  of  the  night,  and  said 


236  GENESIS 

to  him,   Behold,   thou   art   but   a   doad   man,   because   of   the   woman 
whom  thou  hast  taken  ;  for  she  is  a  man's  wife. 

4  And  Abimelech  had  not  come  near  her :  and  he  said,  Lord,  wilt 
thou  slay  even  a  righteous  nation? 

5  Said  he  not  himself  unto  me.  She  is  my  sister?  and  she,  even 
she  herself  said,  He  is  my  brother :  in  the  integrity  of  my  heart  and 
the  innocency  of  my  hands  have  I  done  this. 

6  And  God  said  unto  him  in  the  dream,  Yea,  I  know  that  in  the 
integrity  of  thy  heart  thou  hast  done  this,  and  I  also  withheld  thee 
from  sinning  against  me :  therefore  suffered  I  thee  not  to  touch  her. 

7  Now  therefore  restore  the  man's  wife ;  for  he  is  a  prophet,  and 
he  shall  pray  for  thee,  and  thou  shalt  live :  and  if  thou  restore  her 
not,  know  thou  that  thou  shalt  surely  die,  thou,  and  all  that  are 
thine. 

It  was  natural  that  after  such  an  event  as  that  related  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  Abraham  should  break  up  his  encampment, 
and  remove  from  a  place  so  charged  with  painful  memories  for 
him.  And  in  fact,  leaving  Mamre,  or  Hebron,  he  removed  towards 
the  S.  W.,  to  the  land  of  "the  South,"  on  the  road  to  Egypt  (ch. 
13:  1),  and  dwelt  between  Kadesh  (=Kadesh  Barnea,  Num.  13:" 
26;  32:8)  and  Shur  (ch.  25:18);  and  he  sojourned  awhile  in 
Gerar,  in  the  land  of  the  Philistines  (12  miles  to  the  south  of 
Gaza) ;  where,  or  in  which  vicinity,  it  is  probable  that  Isaac  was 
born.  It  would  seem  that  this  was  the  first  visit  that  Abraham 
made  to  that  small  city,  whose  neighborhood  was'  the  favorite 
residence  of  Isaac.  Those  lands  of  the  South  were  more  to  the 
liking  of  these  two  patriarchs  than  those  of  the  north;  because  it 
was  natural  that  the  latter  being  more  fertile,  should  be  more 
rapidly  peopled  with  Canaanites,  who  apparently  had  but  re- 
cently come  to  the  country  (ch.  12:  6  and  13:  7);  and  because 
there  the  cities  were  more  numerous  and  larger;  and  also  because 
the  great  extent  of  unoccupied  lands  in  the  South  gave  free  and 
abundant  pasturage  to  their  vast  flocks  and  herds.  The  lot  of  the 
tribe  of  Simeon  fell  precisely  in  this  land  of  "the  South;"  from 
which  we  may  know  that  it  was  not  then  the  desert  it  now  is, 
where  none  but  Arabs  of  the  desert  would  care  to  live.  There,  in 
Gerar,  for  the  first  time  since  he  left  Egypt,  Abraham  seems  to 
have  taken  a  house  in  a  city;  a  small  town,  we  should  call  it  if 
it  did  not  have  a  king;  because  90  years  afterwards,  Abimelech 
(probably  a  son  of  this  one)  said  to  Isaac:  "Go  from  us;  for 
thou  art  much  mightier  than  we."  Ch.  2G:  16.  There,  in  the  town, 
Abraham  thought  he  found  himself  in  the  same  danger  as  in 
Egypt,  where  city  life  exposed  his  wife  to  the  observation  of 
curious  eyes.  It  is  something  almost  incredible  that  at  89  years 
of  age,  this  woman  should  have  retained  her  extraordinary 
beauty  to  such  a  degree  that  Abraham  should  resort  to  the  same 
expedient  of  falsehood,  of  which  he  had  availed  himself  33  years 


CHAPTER  20:  1—7  237 

before  in  Egypt,  and  with  the  same  object.  Sarah,  nevertheless, 
lived  38  years  longer;  whence  we  infer  that  she  might  still 
possess  the  personal  attractions  of  a  well  preserved  woman  of  50 
in  our  day.  Abraham  lived  76  years  after  this,  dying  at  the  age 
of  175;  and  it  is  supposable  that  then,  as  now,  the  life  of  women 
was  ordinarily  as  long  as  that  of  men. 

If  the  reader  should  suppose  that  the  word  "falsehood"  is  too 
severe,  which  I  again  use  with  regard  to  this  sin  of  Abraham  (a 
graver  offence  now  than  before,  ch.  12:  13),  let  him  pass  his  eye 
on  to  vrs.  12,  13,  where  Abraham  himself  confesses  to  Abimelech 
that,  in  virtue  of  the  blood  relationship  existing  between  the  two, 
as  half  brother  and  sister  (or  at  least  as  uncle  and  niece),  by 
mutual  agreement  this  had  been  their  usage  since  (as  he  said) 
"God  made  me  to  wander  from  the  house  of  my  father";  that  is 
to  say,  from  the  time  that  he  left  Haran  for  the  land  of  Canaan — 
a  period  of  24  years.  The  falsehood  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  his 
wife,  was  of  the  same  class — a  half  truth,  spoken  to  deceive. 
Acts  5:  1 — 3,  8 — 10.  When  the  Bible  lays  bare  the  sins  of  the 
great  servants  of  God  in  all  their  deformity,  removing  every  veil 
and  disguise,  it  ill  becomes  us  to  palliate  or  excuse  them. 

We  find  no  way  to  excuse  such  duplicity;  for  the  excuse  which 
mitigated  the  first  offence,  in  Egypt,  when  Abraham  was  still  a 
novice  in  the  ways  of  Jehovah,  fails  him  in  this  case.  But  it  ia 
natural  for  men  to  lie  (Ps.  58:  3),  and  only  among  the  nations 
and  peoples  educated  under  the  influence  of  the  Bible  is  it  easy 
and  ordinary  among  serious  and  decent  persons  to  speak  always 
the  truth.  The  French  and  Spanish  have  an  adage  which  says 
it  all:  "Children  and  fools  speak  the  truth."  This  is  almost 
the  last  vice  to  be  extirpated  among  the  converts  from  paganism; 
and  a  multitude  of  our  converts  from  Romanism  are  in  almost 
the  same  case.  Pascal  in  his  "Provincial  Letters"  sets  forth  with 
abundance  of  proofs,  taken  out  of  the  writings  of  their  own,  and 
these  their  most  famous*  masters,  how  Jesuitism  teaches  its 
adepts  to  suppress  the  truth,  and  even  to  lie  with  a  good  con- 
science. We  have  no  reason  whatever  to  believe  that  this  perni- 
cious system  is  any  better  now  than  in  the  days  of  Pascal;  and 
Jesuitism  is  nothing  more  than  the  quintessence  of  Romanism. 

In  addition  to  the  personal  attractions  which  Sarah  may  have 
had,  it  is  probable  that  the  desire  of  relating  himself  by  mar- 
riage with  a  prince  as  rich  and  powerful  as  Abraham,  had  its  part 
in  the  alliance  which  Abimelech  proposed  to  form.  It  seems  that 
Abimelech,  after  the  manner  of  the  kings  of  that  time,  adopted 
the  same  arbitrary  procedure  as  the  powerful  king  of  Egypt  in 
similar  circumstances  had  used;   he  sent  and  took  Sarah,  and 


238  GENESIS 

carried  her  to  his  house.  But  God  again  interposed  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  woman  in  whom  were  deposited  the  hopes  not  only 
of  Abraham,  but  of  the  whole  human  race;  in  spite  of  the  sin 
which  her  husband  had  committed.  And  if  it  be  asked  why  he 
did  not  punish  Abraham  for  such  sin,  and  why  the  Bible  does  not 
even  censure  him  for  it,  I  reply,  just  as  in  the  case  of  Noah  (p. 
121) :  1st.  Because  God  does  not  deal  with  those  who  are  really 
and  truly  his  servants  on  the  footing  of  a  King  who  rigidly  ad- 
ministers justice,  but  of  a  loving  and  pardoning  Father.  The  doc- 
trine of  Paul,  that  "there  is  now  therefore  no  condemnation  for 
them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus"  (Rom.  8:1),  was  as  certain  then 
as  it  is  now,  though  not  as  clearly  defined;  and  with  regard  to 
those  paternal  chastisements  with  which  God  corrects  his  chil- 
dren for  their  amendment  (Heb.  12:  7,  8),  Abraham  doubtless  had 
his  share  of  them,  as  we  shall  see,  like  all  the  rest.  2nd.  Those 
who  are  familiar  with  the  Holy  Scriptures  do  not  need  that  the 
Bible  should  condemn  every  act  of  improper  conduct,  in  order  that 
they  may  know  that  it  is  displeasing  to  God.  And  it  is  well  to 
bear  always  in  mind  that  God's  divine  revelation  ought  to  please 
us  in  the  very  form  in  which  he  has  teen  pleased  to  give  it,  with- 
out demanding  any  reason  for  his  procedure.  "Blessed  is  he 
whosoever  shall  find  no  occasion  of  stumbling  in  me.''  Luke  7 :  24. 

God  interposed,  therefore,  for  the  protection  of  that  woman 
from  whom  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and  Christ  himself,  "accord- 
ing to  the  flesh,"  were  to  descend,  without  reference  to  the  sin 
of  Abraham  which  had  given  occasion  for  the  error  of  Abimelech; 
and  in  dreams  of  the  night  he  put  him  in  mortal  terror,  on 
account  of  his  having  taken,  though  innocently,  the  wife  of 
Abraham,  and  threatened  with  certain  death  both  himself  and 
all  of  his,  if  he  did  not  restore  the  man  his  wife.  Abimelech 
protested  his  innocence  and  the  honorableness  of  his  procedure; 
a  protest  which  God  readily  admitted,  saying  that  for  this  very 
reason  he  had  withheld  him  from  sinning  against  him,  and  did 
not  permit  him  to  touch  the  woman;  but  he  made  even  more 
peremptory  his  demand  that  he  return  her  at  once. 

Three  things  here  call  our  attention:  1st.  That  God  could 
communicate  with  the  Philistine,  without  doubt  a  pagan,  with 
as  much  facility,  explicitness  and  certainty  as  with  Abraham 
or  Moses;  and  Abimelech  did  not  doubt  it  any  more  than  he 
would  doubt  the  communications  received  from  Picol,  the  cap- 
tain of  his  army.  Ch.  21:  22.  See  also  the  like  case  of  Baalam, 
in  Num.  22:  9 — 20.  Now  more  than  ever,  while  many  who  pro- 
fess to  believe  in  God,  deny  the  fact,  and  even  the  possibility. 
Of  a  supernatural  revelation,   it  is  necessary  to  recognize  and 


CHAPTER  20:  8—18  239' 

constantly  to  affirm  that  a  God  who  cannot  communicate  with 
his  creatures,  and  that,  with  the  greatest  precision  and  cer- 
tainty, is  in  nowise  better  than  the  gods  of  wood  and  stone. 
2nd.  That  the  criminal  acts  of  a  pagan  (whatever  be  the  re- 
ligion he  professes  and  whoever  the  gods  he  worships)  are  sins 
committed  against  Jehovah,  the  only  true  God:  "I  also  with- 
held thee  from  sinning  against  me."  3rd.  That  the  destruction 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  was  known  and  recognized  as  the  act 
of  Jehovah,  even  by  the  pagans  round  about,  who  were  disposed 
to  blame  him  for  using  too  great  severity.  Only  thus  can  be 
explained  those  words  of  Abimelech,  in  vr.  4:  "Lord,  wilt  thou 
slay  even  a  righteous  nation?" 

20:  8 — 18.      ABRAHAM,    ABIMELECH    AND    SAEAH.       (1896    B.    C.) 

8  And  Abimelech  rose  early  in  the  morning,  and  called  all  his 
servants,  and  told  all  these  things  in  their  ears :  and  the  men  were 
sore  afraid. 

9  Then  Abimelech  called  Abraham,  and  said  unto  him.  What 
hast  thou  done  unto  us?  and  wherein  have  I  sinned  against  thee, 
that  tliou  hast  brought  on  me  and  on  my  kingdom  a  great  sin?  thou 
hast  done  deeds  unto  me  that  ought  not  to  be  done. 

10  And  Abimelech  said  unto  Abraham,  What  sawest  thou,  that 
thou  hast  done  this  thing? 

11  And  Abraham  said.  Because  I  thought,  Surely  the  fear  of 
God  is  not  in  this  place ;  and  they  will  slay  me  for  my  wife's  sake. 

12  And  moreover  she  is  indeed  my  sister,  the  daughter  of  my 
father,  but  not  the  daughter  of  my  mother ;  and  she  became  my 
wife : 

13  and  it  came  to  pass,  when  God  caused  me  to  wander  from 
my  father's  house,  that  I  said  unto  her.  This  is  thy  kindness  which 
thou  shalt  show  unto  me:  at  every  place  whither  we  shall  come,  say 
of  me,  He  is  my  brother. 

14  And  Abimelech  took  sheep  and  oxen,  and  men-servants  and 
women-servants,  and  gave  them  unto  Abraham,  and  restored  him 
Sarah  his  wife. 

1.5  And  Abimelech  said.  Behold,  my  land  is  before  thee :  dwell 
where  it  pleaseth  thee. 

16  And  unto  Sarah  he  said,  Behold,  I  have  given  thy  brother  a 
thousand  pieces  of  silver :  behold,  it  is  for  thee  a  covering  of  the 
eyes  to  all  that  are  with  thee :  and  in  respect  of  all  thou  are 
righted. 

17  And  Abraham  prayed  unto  God :  and  God  healed  Abimelech, 
and  his  wife,  and  his  maid-servants ;  and  they  bare  children. 

18  For  Jehovah  had  fast  closed  up  all  the  wombs  of  the  house 
of  Abimelech,  because  of  Sarah,  Abraham's  wife. 

Abimelech  rose  early  in  the  morning  (for  it  is  plain  that  he 
slept  little,  if  at  all,  after  God  had  made  to  him  such  an  an- 
nouncement), and  "called  all  his  servants"  (which  in  Hebrew 
style  means  the  princes  and  chiefs  of  his  people),  and  had  no 
difficulty  in  making  them  understand  and  believe  the  import 
of  the  revelation  of  the  preceding  night;  for  the  men  feared 
greatly.     Next  he  called  Abraham,   and   reproved   him  respect- 


240  GENESIS 

fully,  but  justly  and  severely,  for  the  unseemly  action  which 
he  had  committed.  It  is  undeniable  that  pagans  are  fully  aware 
of  the  criminality  of  many  of  the  sinful  acts  which  they  com- 
mit, so  that  Paul  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  they  are  '"with- 
out excuse"  before  God.  (Rom.  1:  IS);  and  it  is  so  even  with 
regard  to  those  sins  which-  they  commit  without  hesitation  or 
scruple;  and  on  this  fact  is  based  the  possibility  of  convinc- 
ing them  of  sin,  and  effecting  their  genuine  conversion  to  God. 
Among  these  sins,  adultery  and  the  robbery  of  another's  wife, 
are  those  most  universally  recognized  as  such  by  all  the 
nations  and  peoples  of  the  world;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  interview  which  Abimelech  had  just  had  with  God 
in  dreams,  awakened  and  quickened  his  natural  conscience  to 
such  a  degree  that  he  ingenuously  confessed  that  Abraham  had 
been  the  cause  of  bringing  upon  him  and  upon  his  kingdom  a 
great  sin.  The  hand  of  God  had  already  come  down  on  Abime- 
lech, and  upon  his  wife,  and  upon  his  maid-servants,  in  some 
manner  inexplicable  by  us,  but  which  they  well  understood;  so 
that  Jehovah  said  to  him  (vr.  7),  that  Abraham  was  a  prophet 
and  would  pray  for  him  that  he  should  not  die;  and  in  vr.  17 
we  are  told  that  Abraham,  in  fact,  prayed  to  God,  and  "God 
healed  Abimelech,  and  his  wife,  and  his  maid-servants,  so  that 
they  bare  children." 

This  is  the  first  time  that  the  word  prophet  occurs  in  the 
Bible,  and  it  is  well  to  fix  in  our  minds  that  it  does  not  signify, 
either  first  or  principally,  an  announcer  of  future  events,  but 
rather  one  who  has  intimate  relations  with  God,  and  from  him 
receives  communications  to  make  them  known  to  men.  In 
this  sense  Abraham  was  a  great  prophet,  although  he  has  not 
foretold  anything  to  us.  It  signifies  also  one  who  spoke  or  wrote 
under  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (2  Pet.  1:  21);  in  which 
sense  Barnabas  (Acts  13:  1)  and  Mark  and  Luke  were  prophets. 
And  not  only  so,  but  in  the  Old  Testament  those  were  reputed 
prophets  who  spoke  under  the  impulse  of  a7iy  spiritual  influence, 
even  though  it  were  that  of  the  spirits  of  darkness.  1  Sam. 
10:  10—13;  18:  10,  11;  1  Kings  22:  10,  22,  24;  Jer.  23:  13.  It  is 
altogether  probable  that  the  false  prophets,  who  played  so  con- 
spicuous a  part  in  the  histories  of  the  Old  Testament,  were 
not  mere  liars  and  vulgar  imposters,  but  men  of  weight  and 
capacity  (like  the  great  false  prophet  Baalam),  who  were,  on 
many  occasions,  the  mouth-piece  of  Satan  and  his  satellites; 
much  in  the  same  way  as  the  true  prophets  were  of  Jehovah 
See  1  Kings  22 :  23.  The  same  thing  happened,  mutatis  mutandis, 
with  regard  to  the  ancient  pagan  oracles  (comp.  Acts  16:  16 — 19), 


CHAPTER  20:  8—18  241 

and  it  happens  still  in  the  modern  form  of  the  same,  to  wit,  the 
"mediums"  among  the  Spiritists*  of  today;  who,  aside  from 
the  deceptions  they  commit,  and  the  frauds  they  practice,  are 
sometimes  as  certain  that  they  have  received  communications 
from  the  invisible  world,  as  was  Zedekiah  the  son  of  Chenaanah 
(1  Kings  22:  21 — 24),  of  whom  we  have  the  most  unimpeach- 
able testimony  that  this  really  happened  in  his  case. 

Abraham,  without  explaining  (in  reply  to  Abimelech's  inter- 
rogatory) what  he  had  seen  in  the  city  to  awaken  his  distrust, 
confesses  frankly  that  he  had  come  to  believe,  with  or  without 
cause,  that  "there  was  no  fear  of  God  in  that  place,  and  that 
they  would  kill  him  for  his  wife's  sake."  It  is  impossible  for 
us  to  duly  appreciate  the  insecurity  which  in  ancient  times 
everywhere  prevailed  in  this  regard,  and  which  yet  prevails 
among  the  peoples  and  societies  where  there  is  no  fear  of  God 
nor  knowledge  of  his  word.  Protestant  countries  are  of  all 
others  the  most  privileged  in  this  respect,  as  in  almost  every 
other.  But  making  all  allowances,  it  is  hard  for  us  to  account 
for  such  apparent  timidity,  in  so  small  a  city,  on  the  part 
of  a  man  who  had  pursued  and  routed  four  kings  (ch.  14:  25); 
having,  as  he  must  have  had  at  a  short  distance  from  the  spot, 
his  encampment  and  his  valiant  soldiers.  But  as  Abraham 
cannot  be  accused  of  cowardice  or  pusilanimity,  there  must 
have  been  some  cause  for  his  fears,  which  in  so  compendious 
a  history  has  not  been  related  to  us.  This  does  not  at  all 
excuse  his  sin,  which  we  have  already  characterized  as  great 
and  inexcusable;  but  it  brings  to  mind  the  lesson  that  it  is 
easy,  alas  how  easy!  to  repeat  a  sin  which  has  once  been  com- 
mitted; and  the  imitation  of  his  conduct  by  his  son  Isaac,  in 
this  same  city  of  Gerar,  90  years  later  (ch.  26:  7),  teaches  us 
how  much  easier  it  is  to  imitate  the  sins  and  weaknesses  of 
good  men,  than  their  virtues;  and  how  it  is  that  the  sins  of 
parents  live  again  and  are  perpetuated  in  their  children. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  here  what  we  have  said  in 
another  place  (ch.  12:  9 — 20),  with  regard  to  the  difficulty  of 
explaining  the  pretext  which  Abraham  alleges  for  calling  the 
woman  his  sister  who  was  really  his  wife.  But  whether  she 
was  (1)  the  niece  of  Abraham,  being  the  "Iscah"  of  ch.  11:  29, 
daughter  of  his  brother  Haran;  or  whether  it  be  (2)  that 
Haran  was  only  the  half  brother  of  Abraham,  being  the  son 
of  Terah  by  a  former  wife,  and  Abraham    (65  years  younger), 

♦The  Spanish  form  of  this  word  is  far  more  appropriate  and  expres- 
sive than  the  familiar  Engiish  one  "spiritualist,"  to  which  they  have 
uo  honest  claim,  there  being  nothing  spiritual  about  them. — Tr. 


242  GENESIS 

the  son  of  Terah  by  a  second  wife,  so  that  in  this  sense  Sarah 
■was  the  daughter  of  the  same  father,  but  not  of  the  same 
mother;  or  whether  it  be  (3)  that  Sarah  was  his  own  half 
sister,  being  the  daughter  of  Terah  by  a  second  wife,  after  the 
death  of  the  former,  or  by  a  secondary  wife  or  concubine,  while 
the  former  was  still  alive;  and  so  Abraham  might  say,  in  a 
literal  sense,  that  she  "was  the  daughter  of  my  father,  but  not 
the  daughter  of  my  mother,  and  she  became  my  wife"; — in 
whichever  way  it  may  have  happened,  it  is  all  one  in  this  re- 
gard: a  half  truth  does  not  fail  of  being  a  complete  falsehood, 
when  spoken  for  the  purpose  of  deceiving.  The  essence  of 
the  lie  consists  in  the  intention  to  deceive;  and  it  does  not 
greatly  matter  just  what  may  be  the  means  adopted  to  effect 
it,  whether  fallacious  words  or  fallacious  actions,  suppressions 
of  the  truth,  or  incomplete  statements;  it  is  all  the  same  in 
fact,  though  not  in  form,  and  God  regards  them  as  falsehoods, 
I  have  extended  my  comments  on  this  point  because  of  its  great 
practical  importance,  and  above  all  in  Roman  Catholic  coun- 
tries, where,  under  the  influence  of  a  deeply  corrupted  form 
of  Christianity,  and  the  prohibition  and  disuse  of  the  Bible 
from  age  to  age,  the  vice  of  untruthfulness  is  almost  universal. 
We  ought  to  make  the  greatest  efforts  that  our  Protestants  may 
be  always  distinguished  (1)  by  their  love  of  the  Bible,  (2)  by 
the  religious  observance  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  (3)  by  always 
speaking  the  truth. 

In  requital  of  the  offence  which  he  had  committed  in  taking 
away  Abraham's  wife,  Abimelech  "took  sheep  and  oxen  and 
men-servants  and  maid-servants  and  gave  them  to  him,  and 
he  restored  him  Sarah  his  wife."  Abimelech  also  said  to  him 
that  his  land  was  before  him,  and  he  might  dwell  in  whatever 
part  of  it  he  liked  best.  And  it  seems  that,  in  fact,  Abraham 
remained  in  the  land  of  Abimelech  not  only  until  Isaac  was 
born,  but  for  a  long  time  after  that;  as  we  understand  from 
vr.  34. 

The  words  which  Abimelech  addressed  to  Sarah,  in  vr.  16, 
are  not  easy  for  us  to  translate,  or  to  explain,  satisfactorily.  It 
is  possible  that  he  put  them  in  this  enigmatical  form,  pur- 
posely availing  himself  of  a  double  sense,  with  the  object  of 
suggesting  more  than  he  wished  to  say,  and  as  a  mixture  of 
courtesy,  of  wit,  of  delicate  reproof,  and  of  disguised  excuse 
for  the  offence  committed.  As  is  natural,  therefore,  the  dif- 
ferent Versions  give  them  many  and  various  renderings.  The 
sense  given  in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version  is  that  which 
Gesenius  prefers,  and  also   it   is  that  given  me  by  one  of  the 


CHAPTER  20:  8—18  243 

most  distinguished  Rabbis  of  America,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  A.  P. 
Mendes,  who  had  the  goodness  to  revise  my  first  translation 
of  Genesis.  In  addition  to  the  sheep  and  oxen  and  servants 
already  given  to  Abraham,  Abimelech  gave  him  likewise,  in 
the  name  of  Sarah,  and  in  requital  of  what  had  happened  to 
her,  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  said  to  her:  "Behold  I  have 
given  to  thy  brother  a  thousand  shekels  of  silver"  (=  $600 
gold  of  our  money;  which  was  then  and  there  worth  many 
times  this  sum) ;  see,  this  shall  serve  thee  as  reparation  (Heb. 
a  covering  of  the  eyes),  for  all  that  has  happened  to  thee, 
and  with  all  men:  and  so  she  was  vindicated."  Gesenius  explains 
the  "covering  of  the  eyes"  as  the  expiation  of  a  fault,  making 
one  dissemble  the  offence,  as  if  he  did  not  see  it;  but  in  any 
case  the  "covering  of  the  eyes"  suggests  the  idea  of  a  veil 
for  the  eyes;  and  this  is  the  sense  which  is  preferred  by  the 
Revised  English  Version.  Thus  it  was  that  on  seeing  Isaac 
walking  in  the  field  and  coming  to  meet  them,  Rebekah,  who 
had  been  unveiled  in  the  presence  of  the  servants  of  Abraham 
who  accompanied  her,  "took  her  veil  and  covered  herself."  Ch. 
24:  65.  It  is  quite  possible  that  Sarah  on  leaving  the  life  of 
the  country  to  live  in  the  city,  had  used  there  the  same  liberty 
to  which  she  was  accustomed  in  the  camp  of  Abraham,  among 
her  own  people;  and  it  is  very  certain  that  in  Egypt,  when 
she  was  much  younger,  she  committed  this  act  of  grave  im- 
prudence, exposing  her  extraordinary  beauty  to  the  sight  of 
everybody  (ch.  12:14,  15);  and  it  seems,  that  in  this  way, 
Abimelech  reminds  her  that  women,  and  above  all,  handsome 
women,  ought  to  cover  themselves  with  a  veil  in  the  presence 
of  men;  and  the  thousand  shekels  of  silver  would  supply  her 
with  abundance  of  veils  for  this  purpose.  He  does  not  tell 
her  so  plainly,  of  course;  but  as  his  words  admit  of  a  double 
sense,  they  could  not  less  than  carry  this  covert  insinuation. 
The  following  words  also  admit  of  a  double  or  triple  sense; 
the  Revised  English  Version  regarding  them  as  the  words  of 
Abimelech  to  Sarah;  and  still  other  senses  can  be  found  in  the 
commentaries.  But  whether  it  be  that  the  beautiful  but  im- 
prudent and  much  indulged  woman  was  "vindicated,"  or  "re- 
proved," or  "confuted,"  or  "convicted"  and  silenced,  the  disagree- 
able incident  was  thus  closed.  We  evangelicals  also  have  some 
indiscreet  Sarahs,  who  because  they  misunderstand  the  "liberty 
wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free,"  or  who  affect  foreign 
usages,  expose  themselves  to  even  graver  censure.  It  will  be 
well  for  them  to  take  warning  from  the  wife  of  Abraham,  and 
not  bring  reproach  on  the  name  of  Christ  and  his  cause. 


244  GENESIS 

To  this  occurrence  and  to  the  other  like  it,  which  happened, 
as  we  have  just  said,  in  Egypt,  the  Psalmist  alludes  when  he 
says: 

"He  hath  remembered  his  covenant  for  ever, 

the  word  which  he  commanded  to  a  thousand  generations; 

the  covenant  which  he  made  with  Abraham, 

and  his  oath  unto  Isaac, 

and  confirmed  the  same  to  Jacob  for  a  statute, 

to  Israel  for  an  everlasting  covenant, 

saying:     Unto  thee  will  I  give  the  land  of  Canaan, 

the  lot  of  your  inheritance; 

when  they  were  but  a  few  men  in  number, 

yea,  very  few  and  sojourners  in  it. 

And  when  they  went  about  from  nation  to  nation, 

from   one  kingdom  to   another   people, 

he  suffered  no  man  to  do  them  wrong; 

yea  he  reproved  kings  for  their  sakes, 

saying:     Touch  not  mine  anointed  ones, 

and  do  my  prophets  no  harm!"     Ps.  105:  8 — 15. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Vrs.   1 — 7.      SARAH   IS   AT  LAST  A   MOTHER.       (1896   B.   C.) 

1  And  Jehovah  visited  Sarah  as  he  had  said,  and  Jehovah  did  unto 
Sarah  as  he  had  spoken. 

2  And  Sarah  conceived,  and  bare  Abraham  a  son  in  his  old  age, 
at  the  set  time  of  which  God  had  spoken  to  him. 

3  And  Abraham  called  the  name  of  his  son  that  was  born  unto 
him,  whom  Sarah  bare  to  him,  Isaac. 

4  And  Abraham  circumcised  his  son  Isaac  when  he  was  eight 
days  old,  as  God  had  commanded  him. 

5  And  Abraham  was  a  hundred  years  old,  when  his  son  Isaac 
was  born  unto  him. 

6  And  Sarah  said,  God  hath  made  me  to  laugh ;  every  one  that 
beareth  will  laugh  with  me. 

7  And  she  said,  Who  would  have  -said  unto  Abraham  that  Sarah 
should  give  children  suck?  for  I  have  borne  him  a  son  in  his  old  age. 

The  Angel-Jehovah  had  said  to  Abraham  (ch.  18:10):  "I 
will  return  unto  thee  when  the  season  cometh  round,  and  Sarah 
shall  have  a  son."  In  this  form,  therefore,  he  returned  to 
him  at  the  appointed  time;  for  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  word 
"visit"  or  "come"  is  used  to  express  any  remarkable  manifesta- 
tion of  the  kindness,  or  of  the  justice  and  wrath  of  God.  Isaac 
(=  Laughter,  or,  He  shall  laugh)  was  the  name  which  God 
himself  had  given  the  child,  when  he  made  promise  of  his 
birth  (ch.  17:  19) ;  so  Abraham  called  him  Isaac,  and  circumcised 
him  on  the  eighth  day,  fulfilling  thus  the  law  of  Jehovah. 
Ch.   17:    12.     Abraham   at   the   time   was   a  hundred   years   old. 


CHAPTER  21:  1—7  245 

Beautiful  and  very  natural  is  the  exclamation  of  the  aged 
mother:  "God  hath  made  me  to  laugh,  and  every  one  that 
heareth  will  laugh  with  me!  Who  would  have  said  to  Abraham 
that  Sarah  should  give  suck?  For  I  have  borne  him  a  son 
in  his  old  age."  Isaac  was  born  in  Gerar,  or  in  the  valley  of 
Gerar,  where  Abraham  dwelt  a  long  time  before  going  to  Beer- 
sheba;  the  proof  of  which  is  found  in  the  many  wells  which  he 
digged  there;  for  as  Abraham  seems  never  again  to  have  lived  in 
the  valley  of  Gerar,  this  must  have  been  the  time  when  he  dug 
them.  See  eh.  26:  15,  18.  The  repetition  in  vr.  1  that  "Jehovah 
visited  Sarah  as  he  had  said  and  Jehovah  did  unto  Sarah  as  he 
had  said,"  gives  emphasis  to  the  faithfulness  of  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham in  fulfilling  his  promises  to  his  people  who  trust  in  him. 
The  words  of  Paul  on  this  particular  case  are  worthy  to  be  given 
here,  and  also  on  the  certainty  and  security  of  all  the  promises  of 
God  to  his  children:  "Who  in  hope  believed  against  hope,  to  the 
end  that  he  might  become  the  father  of  many  nations,  according 
to  that  which  had  been  spoken:  So  (as  the  stars)  shall  thy  seed 
be.  And  being  not  weak  in  faith,  he  considered  not  his  own  body, 
now  as  good  as  dead  (when  he  was  about  a  hundred  years  old), 
neither  yet  the  deadness  of  Sarah's  womb;  but  looking  unto  the 
promise  of  God,  he  wavered  not  through  unbelief,  but  waxed 
strong  through  faith,  giving  glory  to  God,  and  being  fully  assured 
that  what  he  had  promised  he  was  able  also  to  perform.  Where- 
fore also  it  was  reckoned  to  him  for  righteousness.  Now  it  was 
not  written  for  his  sake  alone  that  it  was  reckoned  unto  him; 
but  for  our  sakes  also,  unto  whom  it  shall  be  reckoned,  who  be- 
lieve on  him  who  raised  up  Jesus  our  Lord  from  the  dead;  who 
was  delivered  up  for  our  trespasses,  and  was  raised  again  for  our 
justification."    Rom.  4:  18—25. 

We  are  often  impatient  because  God  does  not  at  once  fulfil 
some  promise  of  his  on  which  we  have  set  our  heart;  but  in  this 
we  do  not  "walk  in  the  steps  of  the  faith  of  our  father  Abra- 
ham." And  it  is  not  less  certain  in  our  case  than  it  was  in  his, 
that  God  will  fulfil  every  promise  of  his,  in  the  way  and  at  the 
time  that  shall  be  most  for  his  glory  and  for  our  own  advantage; 
and  meantime,  he  is  more  glorified  by  our  unwavering  and  im- 
perturbable faith,  than  by  all  our  so-called  good  works.  John  6: 
28,  29;  1  John  3:  23. 

"For  the  vision  is  yet  for  the  appointed  time, 

and  it  hasteth  towards  the  end  and  shall  not  lie  (=disap- 

point  our  hope) ; 
although  it  tarry,  wait  for  it; 
because  it  will  surely  come,  it  will  not  delay."  Hab.  2:  3. 


246  GENESIS 

21:  8 — 13.      ISHMAEL   MOCKS   AT   ISAAC.       (1892    B.    C.) 

8  And  the  child  grew,  and  was  weaned:  and  Abraham  made  a 
great  feast  on  the  day  that  Isaac  was  weaned. 

9  And  Sarah  saw  the  son  of  Hagar  the  Egyptian,  whom  she  had 
borne  unto  Abraham,  mocking. 

10  Wherefore  she  said  unto  Abraham,  Cast  out  this  handmaid* 
and  her  son  :  for  the  son  of  this  handmaid  shall  not  be  heir  with  my 
son,  even  with  Isaac. 

11  And  the  thing  was  very  grievous  in  Abraham's  sight  on  account 
of  his  son. 

12  And  God  said  unto  Abraham,  Let  it  not  be  grievous  in  thy 
sight  because  of  the  lad,  and  because  of  thy  handmaid*  ;  in  all  that 
Sarah  saith  unto  thee,  hearken  unto  her  voice ;  for  in  Isaac  shall  thy 
seed   be  called. 

13  And  also  of  the  son  of  the  handmaid  will  I  make  a  nation, 
because  he  is  thy  seed. 

[*A.  v.,  bondwoman  ;    M.  8.  V.,  slave.] 

In  Oriental  countries,  it  is  customary  for  mothers  to  nurse  their 
children  for  a  longer  time  than  they  do  with  us,  and  wean  them 
at  a  more  advanced  age.  When  Samuel  was  weaned,  he  was  old 
enough  to  be  carried  to  the  house  of  Jehovah,  in  Shiloh,  and  be 
left  there  with  Eli;  where  he  remained  "ministering  to  Jehovah 
before  the  high  priest  Eli."  1  Sam.  1:  22 — 25;  2:  11.  In  2  Chron. 
31:  16,  provision  was  made  for  the  maintenance  of  the  priests  and 
Levites  "from  three  years  old  and  upward,"  and  in  the  second 
(Apocryphal)  book  of  the  Maccabees  (ch.  7:  27),  the  mother  o? 
the  seven  martyred  sons,  after  witnessing  the  death  of  the  six 
elder  ones,  plead  with  the  youngest  by  all  her  maternal  care,  in- 
cluding "three  years"  that  she  had  given  him  the  breast,  that  he 
■would  not  disappoint  her  hope,  but  would  die  like  his  brothers, 
and  despise  the  flattering  offers  of  Antiochus.  From  all  which 
it  is  proper  to  infer  that  Isaac  was  three  years  old  when  Abra- 
ham made  that  great  banquet  in  honor  of  the  weaning  of  his  son. 
The  case  of  Leah  was  altogether  exceptional,  not  only  for  those 
times,  but  for  any  other;  for  she,  with  her  vehement  desire  to 
bear  children  and  more  children,  had  the  satisfaction  of  giving 
to  Jacob  a  son  year  after  year  for  six  consecutive  years,  and  a 
daughter  besides  in  the  seventh;  and  all  these  before  the  birth  of 
Joseph,  who  came  at  the  time  that  Jacob  had  completed  the  first 
seven  years  of  his  married  life.    Ch.  30:  25. 

Up  to  this  point  Hagar  and  her  Ishmael,  the  rivals  of  Sarah 
and  her  Isaac,  had  looked  on  and  kept  silence;  but  nettled  with 
the  great  public  rejoicings  that  were  made  over  the  heir  of  the 
promise,  Ishmael  in  an  evil  hour  for  himself  set  about  to  mock 
at  him.  We  do  not  know  in  what  form  or  with  what  aggravating 
circumstances  this  was  done;  but  the  language  of  Paul  in  Gal. 
4:  29,  that  "he  that  was  born  after  the  flesh  persecuted  him  that 
was  born  after  the  spirit,"  gives  us  to  understand  that  it  was  a 


CHAPTER  21:  8—13  247 

depreciatory  and  malignant  treatment,  a  bitter  and  satirical  scorn, 
sufficient  to  constitute  an  exceedingly  grave  offence.  There  are 
unreflecting  persons  who  would  wish  to  treat  the  whole  matter 
as  if  it  belonged  to  the  class  of  "childish  things,"  and  look  upon 
the  painful  consequences  which  it  brought  upon  Ishmael  and  his 
mother,  as  the  vengeance  of  a  jealous  and  passionate  woman. 
But  God  approved  the  sentence,  and  this  ought  to  banish  such 
vulgar  notions  from  the  minds  of  those  who  fear  him.  This  did 
not  belong  to  the  class  of  "childish  things."  Ishmael  was  four- 
teen years  of  age  when  Isaac  was  born,  and  at  this  time  he  was 
seventeen.  He  was  more  of  a  man  than  a  child,  and  his  conduct 
gave  evidence  of  the  growing  rivalry  and  the  profound  hatred 
toward  Isaac  which  was  going  to  characterize  the  man. 

Notwithstanding  this,  it  must  be  confessed  that  Sarah  was  not 
as  amiable  as  she  was  beautiful.  Called  affectionately  by  Abra- 
ham "My  Princess"  (=Sarai),  in  her  youth,  and  "Princess 
(=  Sarah)  by  Jehovah,  who  gave  her  this  name;  indulged  and 
petted  from  youth  to  old  age,  and  naturally  proud  and  high 
tempered  (see  ch.  16:  5)  it  was  not  possible  for  her  any  longer 
(for  this  was  not  an  isolated  case)  to  tolerate  the  impertinences 
of  her  slave,  high  spirited  and  independent  by  nature,  and  also 
her  rival,  as  being  the  mother  of  the  youth  who  for  thirteen  years 
had  been  considered  as  the  only  son  and  heir  of  Abraham — a 
rivalry  which  she  was  at  no  pains  to  dissemble.  Comp.  ch.  16: 
4,  5.  The  conduct  of  young  Ishmael,  therefore,  was  intolerable 
to  Sarah;  and  it  was  probably  instigated  or  countenanced  by  his 
mother.  "Cast  out  (she  said  to  Abraham)  this  slave  (=  bond- 
woman) and  her  son;  for  the  son  of  this  slave  shall  not  be  heir 
with  my  son,  with  Isaac!"  Abraham  had  a  tender  love  for 
Ishmael,  whose  natural  endowments  and  his  free,  independent 
and  indomitable  spirit,  like  that  of  a  wild  ass  (ch.  16:  12),  con- 
trasted advantageously  with  the  quiet,  meek  and  somewhat  in- 
dolent temper  of  Isaac — perhaps  already  visible  in  the  child  of 
three  years;  and  so  the  demand  which  Sarah  made  "was  very 
grievous  in  his  sight."  Abraham  therefore  hesitated  to  carry  out 
the  wish  of  his  wife;  but  God  said  to  him:  "Let  it  not  be 
grievous  in  thy  sight  because  of  the  lad  and  because  of  thy  bond- 
woman; in  all  that  Sarah  saith  unto  thee,  hearken  unto  her  voice; 
for  in  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called" — that  is,  the  seed  in  the 
line  of  the  covenanted  promise.  The  fact  that  Abraham  was 
willing  to  overlook  such  gross  misbehaviour  upon  the  part  of 
Ishmael,  which  presaged  so  many  troubles  and  vexations,  if  not 
dangers,  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  family;  and  that,  blinded  by 
his  love  for  the  boy,  he  did  not  see  the  grave  inconvenience  of 


248  GENESIS 

having  in  his  encampment  a  lusty  youth,  who  so  openly  published 
his  profound  hatred  towards  the  child  that  deprived  him  of  the 
inheritance  which  for  fourteen  years  he  and  his  mother  had 
learned  to  regard  as  his  indisputable  right,  was  additional  rea- 
son why  God  should  tell  him  to  do  in  this  matter  according 
to  the  will  of  Sarah, 

The  allegory  of  Sarah  and  Hagar,  of  Isaac  and  Ishmael,  which 
Paul  bases  on  this  incident,  it  would  be  worth  the  reader's  while 
to  stop  and  read  here  (in  Gal.  4:  22 — 31),  as  it  is  too  long  to 
quote.  The  passage  would  also  be  worth  the  serious  consideration 
of  those  "liberal  Christians"  who  affect  to  regard  all  decent  forms 
of  religion  as  more  or  less  the  same  in  their  essence,  and  think  it 
is  better  worth  our  while  to  find  out  and  accentuate  the  excel- 
lencies of  each,  than  to  "preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  as 
Christ  has  given  us  commandment;  and  who  naturally  enough 
hold  that  Christians  may  conform  to  the  usages  and  the  pleas- 
ures of  the  world,  without  losing  the  distinctive  marks  of  being 
the  Church  of  God.  The  hatred  of  those  who  are  "born  after  the 
flesh"  towards  those  who  "are  born  after  the  Spirit,"  is  as  in- 
genuous and  as  deep  now  as  was  that  of  Hagar  and  her  son 
towards  Sarah  and  her  son.  This  allegory  of  Paul's  reminds  us 
of  the  words  "I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman, 
and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed."  Gen.  3:  15.  It  also  explains 
the  implacable  hatred  of  the  Romish  Church  toward  the  Gospel 
and  all  who  profess  the  evangelical  religion; — that  Church  which 
has  constituted  itself  the  legitimate  successor  of  "the  Jerusalem 
that  is  now,"  (in  contradistinction  from  "the  Jerusalem  that  is 
above"),  which  Paul  represents  under  the  figure  of  Hagar  and  her 
son,  and  says:  "she  is  in  bondage  with  her  children."  "But  as 
then  he  that  was  born  after  the  flesh  persecuted  him  that  was 
born  after  the  Spirit,  even  so  it  is  now."    Gal.  4:  25,  29. 

When  God  ordained  the  expulsion  of  Hagar  and  her  son,  he 
renewed  with  Abraham  the  promise  of  blessing  the  lad  Ishmael. 
of  caring  for  him,  and  making  him  a  great  nation,  because  he 
was  Abraham's  son;  a  promise  which  we  have  already  considered 
at  length,  in  the  comment  on  eh.  17:  20.  Thus  it  is  that  God 
blesses  the  children  for  their  parents'  sake. 

21:  14 — 21.      HAGAE  AND   HER  SON  ARE  CAST  OUT.       (1892   B.   C.) 

14  And  Abraham  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  took  bread 
and  a  bottle*  of  water,  and  gave  it  unto  Hagar,  putting  it  on  her 
shoulder,  and  oave  her  the  child,  and  sent  her  away:  and  she  de- 
parted, and  wandered  in  the  wilderness  of  Beer-sheba, 

15  And  the  water  in  the  bottle  was  spent,  and  she  cast  the  child 
under  one  of  the  shrubs. 

*0r,  skin. 


CHAPTER  21:  14—21  249 

16  And  she  went,  and  sat  her  down  over  against  him  a  good  way 
off,  as  it  were  a  bowshot :  for  she  said.  Let  me  not  look  upon  the  death 
of  the  child.  And  she  sat  over  against  him,  and  lifted  up  her  voice, 
and  wept, 

17  And  God  heard  the  voice  of  the  lad;  and  the  angel  of  God 
called  to  Hagar  out  of  heaven,  and  said  unto  her,  What  aileth  thee, 
Hagar?  fear  not;  for  God  hath  heard  the  voice  of  the  lad  where  he  is. 

IS  Arise,  lift  up  the  lad,  and  hold  him  in  thy  hand;  for  I  will 
make  him  a  great  nation. 

19  And  God  opened  her  eyes,  and  she  saw  a  well  of  water ;  and 
she  went,  and  filled  the  bottle  with  water,  and  gave  the  lad  drink. 

20  And  God  was  with  the  lad,  and  he  grew ;  and  he  dwelt  in  the 
wilderness,  and  became,  as  he  grew  up,  an  archer. 

21  And  he  dwelt  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran :  and  his  mother  took 
him  a  wife  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt. 

Habitually  prompt  to  fulfil  whatever  his  God  ordained,  on  the 
following  morning  Abraham  rose  up  early,  and  lading  Hagar 
with  "bread"  (a  word  which  in  Hebrew  signifies  food  in  general), 
and  with  a  water-skin — holding  probably  five  or  six  gallons — ■ 
he  gave  her  her  son,  who  being  almost  a  man,  would  be  able  to 
carry  a  part  of  the  burden  of  his  mother,  and  sent  them  away. 
The  farewell  seems  to  us  to  have  been  almost  hard  and  unfeeling. 
But  in  a  history  as  compendious  as  this,  the  love  of  Abraham 
for  his  boy  will  answer  for  it  that  it  was  not  as  much  so  as  it 
looks.  The  Bible  wastes  no  words  in  those  delicate  pencilings 
which  form  so  essential  a  part  of  human  compositions.  Without 
douht,  he  supplied  them  with  everything  that  was  necessary; 
as  it  appears  by  vr.  15  that  the  first  and  only  thing  that  they 
lacked  in  the  desert  was  water.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Abraham  followed  the  steps  of  the  youth  in  whom  he  had  cen- 
tered so  many  hopes,  with  the  keenest  interest.  To  suppose  that 
he  disinherited  him  is  proof  of  much  ignorance  of  the  Bible  and 
its  usages,  or  of  much  and  bitter  prejudice.  What  more  could 
Abraham  do  for  them  under  the  circumstances;  or  what  would 
Ishmael  and  his  mother  do  with  worldly  goods  in  the  desert?  We 
know  for  a  certainty  that  in  due  time  Abraham  gave  him  the 
part  of  his  fortune  which  was  due  him  as  one  of  his  sons;  for 
he  had  no  other  concubines  but  Hagar  and  Keturah;  and  ch. 
25:  5  tells  us  that  "to  the  sons  of  the  concubines,  that  Abraham 
had,  he  gave  gifts;  and  he  sent  them  away  from  Isaac  his  son 
while  he  yet  lived,  eastward,  into  the  east  country;"  and  we  are 
told  in  ch.  25:  6,  9,  that  Ishmael  took  part  with  Isaac  in  the 
obsequies  of  his  father  Abraham;  which  could  not  have  been,  if 
his  father  had  not  treated  him  with  the  attentions  which  were 
his  due,  and  had  not  honored  him  with  worldly  goods  such  as 
corresponded   with   his   quality   as   his   son,   and   first-born   son. 

Beersheba  and  the  city  which  afterwards  grew  up  there,  near  to 


250  GENESIS 

its  celebrated  wells,  lay  to  the  S.  E.  of  Gerar,  at  a  distance  of 
20  or  25  miles  farther  up  the  valley  of  the  river,  or  winter 
torrent,  which  passed  by  Gerar;  and  as  this  at  a  later  period 
was  almost  the  southern  limit  of  Canaan — as  is  indicated  in  the 
current  phrase  "from  Dan  to  Beersheba"  (Judg.  20:  1),  which 
indicated  the  extreme  length  of  the  country  from  north  to  south — 
it  is  probable  that  "the  desert  of  Beersheba"  began  at  this  point, 
and  extended  all  the  way  to  "the  desert  of  Shur,"  on  the  S.  W., 
and  to  "the  desert  of  Paran"  on  the  south.  On  the  former  oc- 
casion (ch.  16:  7)  she  took  the  road  to  Shur,  going  from  Hebron 
(28  miles  N.  E.  from  Beersheba)  towards  Egypt,  her  native 
country;  but  this  time  she  turned  south,  or  S.  E.,  since  the 
young  Ishmael  was  fond  of  desert  life,  and  came  in  fact  to 
fix  his  wide  abode,  as  a  nomad,  in  the  desert  of  Paran, — far  to 
the  south.  The  Well  of  "the  Living-One-who-seeth-me"  (r=Beer- 
lahai-roi)  was  not  far  distant  from  the  place  then  called  Beersheba 
(ch.  24:  62);  and  it  is  in  itself  probable  that  when  the  banished 
ones  directed  their  steps  from  Gerar  to  the  S.  E.,  towards  "the 
desert  of  Beersheba,"  Hagar  went  wandering  about  those  soli- 
tudes in  search  of  that  well,  the  place  where  she  had  bad  that 
first  interview  with  the  Angel-Jehovah,  which  would  bring  so 
grateful  recollections  to  her  mind  in  this  time  of  even  greater 
need.  As  the  two  went  wandering  and  lost  about  the  desert  of 
Beersheba,  the  water  was  spent  in  their  skin-bottle;  and  when 
young  Ishmael  could  no  longer  endure  the  thirst,  "she  cast  him 
under  one  of  the  shrubs,  and  sat  over  against,  or  in  front  of  him, 
at  the  distance  of  a  bowshot,  saying:  "Let  me  not  look  upon  the 
death  of  the  child!"  "And  she  lifted  up  her  voice  and  wept." 
Very  moving  is  this  picture,  which  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone, 
can  paint  to  us  so  vividly  and  so  completely  in  so  few  words. 

On  the  former  occasion,  it  is  supposable  and  probable,  that  the 
poor  Egyptian,  fleeing  from  the  hard  hand  of  her  mistress,  called 
for  help  to  the  God  of  her  master  Abraham,  the  father  of  her 
unborn  child;  for  the  angel  told  her  to  call  the  child  "Ishmael 
(=:  God  hears) ;  because  Jehovah  hath  heard  (the  voice  of)  thy 
affliction."  Ch.  16:  11.  On  this  occasion,  the  affliction  of  the 
mother  was  much  greater;  but  nothing  of  the  kind  is  told  us. 
Naturally  high  spirited,  bitter  of  soul,  and  full  of  resentment  for 
what  had  happened,  it  is  supposable  that  the  gods  of  Egypt,  her 
native  country,  would  have  for  her  more  attraction  than  the 
God  of  Abraham.  It  is  at  least  noticeable  that  although  she 
wept  and  sobbed  out  her  keen  distress,  and  presents  herself  to 
our  view  as  the  most  moving  figure  in  the  picture,  the  text  says 
to  us  "that  God  heard  the  voice  of  the   lad";   and  the  Angel- 


CHAPTER  21:  14—21  251 

Jehovah,  calling  to  her  out  of  heaven,  said  to  the  weeping  mother: 
"What  aileth  thee  Hagar?  Fear  not,  for  Ood  hath  heard  the 
voice  of  the  lad  where  he  is."  Ishmael  was,  at  the  time,  seven- 
teen years  old.  He  was  old  enough  to  know  his  need;  and  in  his 
great  strait  it  is  probable  that  he,  who  knew  no  other  God,  nor 
gods,  but  Jehovah  the  God  of  his  father  Abraham,  laid  aside  his 
resentment,  and  cried  to  God  almost  with  his  last  breath.  It  is 
also  worthy  of  attention  that  when  the  Angel  opened  the  eyes  of 
Hagar  to  see  the  well  of  water,  she  did  not  give  either  to  the  well, 
or  to  the  Angel,  as  on  the  former  occasion,  a  name  of  grateful 
remembrance;  although  her  necessity  was  greater,  and  more  op- 
portune the  relief. 

However  this  may  be,  the  Angel  tranquillized  and  consoled  her 
with  the  assurance  that  God  had  heard  the  voice  of  the  lad;  and 
he  commanded  her:  "Arise,  lift  up  the  lad  and  hold  him  in  thy 
hand!  For  I  will  make  of  him  a  great  nation."  He  then  opened 
her  eyes  to  see  the  well  of  water,  the  same  perhaps  which  she 
had  been  seeking  in  vain,  on  account  of  the  anguish  of  her 
spirit,  and  blinded  with  her  tears.  It  would  seem  that  even 
when  she  lifted  him  up,  the  lad  was  unable  to  walk;  because  the 
mother  "went,  and  filled  the  skin  with  water,  and  gave  the  lad 
drink." 

We  know  little  of  the  subsequent  life  of  Ishmael,  except  what 
we  read  in  ch.  25:  9,  12 — 18.  I  cannot  anywhere  discover  whether 
this  divine  interposition  softened  the  heart  of  the  mother,  or 
worked  for  the  spiritual  profit  of  her  son.  It  is  probable  that 
they  abandoned  the  religion  of  Abraham  together  with  his  en- 
campment; because  the  words  "God  was  with  the  lad,  and  he 
grew,"  etc.,  do  not  indicate  more  than  the  faithful  performance  of 
the  promise  given  to  Abraham,  to  bless  him  because  he  was  his 
son,  and  to  make  him  a  great  nation.  He  grew  up  in  the  deserts 
and  became  an  expert  archer,  dexterous  in  the  use  of  the  bow. 
a  great  hunter,  and  a  valiant  warrior,  "his  hand  against  every 
man,  and  every  man's  hand  against  him."  The  desert  of  Paran, 
where  he  came  to  dwell,  embraced  all  the  central  part  of  the 
peninsula  of  Mount  Sinai.  His  mother  took  him  a  wife  out  of 
Egypt,  her  own  country;  and  with  this  he  was  more  than  ever 
separated  from  the  altar,  and  from  the  family  and  usages  of 
his  father.  Seventy -two  years  afterwards,  when^an  old  man  of 
89  (he  died  at  137),  he  took  part  with  Isaac  in  the  burial  of  his 
father,  accompanied  doubtless  by  his  fierce  Arabs  of  the  desert, 
to  return  immediately  to  the  predatory  life,  which  his  descendants, 
the  Bedouins  of  the  desert,  have  followed  till  today.  The  Ish- 
maelites,  scattered  through  the  deserts,  from  Havilah   (near  the 


252  GENESIS 

mouth  of  the  river  Euphrates)  "unto  Shur,  before  Egypt"  (ch. 
25:  18),  did  not  preserve  a  trace  of  the  religion  of  Abraham, 
except  the  rite  of  circumcision;  and  they  continued  completely 
pagan,  until  600  years  after  Christ,  when  the  great  descendant  of 
Ishmael,  Mohammed,  converted  them  to  Islam,  by  the  argument  of 
the  sword;  and  since  then  their  motto  has  been,  "There  is  no  God 
but  God,  and  Mohammed  is  his  Prophet!"  "Mohammed  first,  and 
after  him  the  Son  of  Mary!"  Thus  ended  Sarah's  human  ex- 
pedient to  give  fulfilment  to  the  promises  of  God!  Ch.  16:  1 — 3. 
This  history  of  Hagar  and  her  son  makes  clearly  evident  that 
Abraham,  the  believing  man,  the  friend  of  God,  had,  like  the  rest 
of  us,  his  errors,  his  bitter  undeceivings,  his  domestic  troubles 
and  his  poignant  griefs  which  cost  him  dark  days  and  sleepless 
nights;  and  it  teaches  us  that  we  shall  in  vain  hope  to  travel  the 
way  of  our  mortal  pilgrimage  without  much  suffering,  due  to  our 
own  errors  and  sins,  and  those  of  others.  The  important  thing  is, 
therefore,  that,  trusting  in  God  and  in  his  promises,  we  perform 
as  far  as  possible  our  allotted  duties  and  make  full  use  of  our 
privileges,  "exercising  ourselves  herein  to  have  always  a  con- 
science without  offence  toward  God  and  toward  men."  Acts  24: 
16.  As  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  difficulties  and  sorrows,  which 
are  an  essential  part  of  our  spiritual  education,  let  us  enjoy  at 
least  the  delights  of  a  good  conscience.  "In  the  world  (said 
Jesus)  ye  shall  have  tribulation;  but  be  of  good  cheer;  I  have 
overcome  the  world."    John  16:  33. 

21:  22 — 34.    abimelech  makes  a  covenant  of  peace  with 
abraham.     beersheba.     (1891  b.  c.) 

22  And  it  came  to  pass  at  that  time,  that  Abimelech  and  Phicol 
the  captain  of  his  host  spake  unto  Abraham,  saying,  God  is  with  thee 
in  all  that  thou  doest : 

23  now  therefore  swear  unto  me  here  by  God  that  thou  wilt  not 
deal  falsely  with  me,  nor  with  my  son,  nor  with  my  son's  son :  but 
according  to  the  kindness  that  I  have  done  unto  thee,  thou  shalt  do 
unto  me,  and  to  the  land  wherein  thou  hast  sojourned. 

24  And  Abraham  said,  I  will  swear. 

2.5  And  Abraham  reproved  Abimelech  because  of  the  well  of 
water,  which  Abimelech's  servants  had  violently  taken  away. 

26  And  Abimelech  said,  I  know  not  who  hath  done  this  thing : 
neither  didst  thou  tell  me,  neither  yet  heard  I  of  it,  but  to-day. 

27  And  Abraham  took  slieep  and  oxen,  and  gave  them  unto  Abim- 
elech;  and  they  two  made  a  covenant. 

28  And  Abraliam  set  seven  ewe  lambs  of  the  flock  by  themselves. 

29  And  Abimelech  said  unto  Abraham,  What  mean  these  seven 
ewe  lambs  which  thou  hast  set  by  themselves? 

30  And  he  said,  These  seven  ewe  lambs  shalt  thou  take  of  my 
hand,  that  it  may  be  a  witness  unto  me,  that  I  have  digged  this  well. 

81  Wherefore  he  called  that  place  Beer-sheba ;  because  there  they 
sware  both  of  them. 

32     So  they  made  a  covenant  at  Beer-sheba  :  and  Abimelech  rose 


CHAPTER  21:  22—34  253 

up,  and  Pliicol  the  captain  of  his  host,  and  they  returned  into  the 
land  of  the  IMiilistinos. 

33  Aud  Abraliain  planted  a  tamarisk  tree*  in  Beer-sheba,  and 
called  there  on  the  name  of  Jehovah,  the  Everlasting  God. 

34  And  Abraham  sojourned  in  the  land  of  the  Philistines  many 
days. 

l*A.  V.  and  M.  S.  Y.,  a  grove.] 

"At  that  time,"  in  vr.  22,  refers  either  to  the  marriage  of  Ish- 
mael,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  verse,  or  more  naturally  to  what 
is  related  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  as  having  occurred  in  the 
valley  of  Gerar;  where,  in  coming  years,  Isaac  passed  much  time, 
opening  again  the  wells  dug  by  his  father  (which  the  Philis- 
tines, after  Abraham's  death,  had  filled  with  earth,  on  account 
of  the  ill-will  they  had  to  Isaac),  and  digging  himself  three  new 
wells,  before  he  put  himself  in  safety  from  that  envious  crew,  by 
going  to  Beersheba.  Ch.  26:  12 — 23.  These  brief  notices  make  it 
evident  that  Isaac  was  born  near  to  Gerar,  and  that  Abraham 
passed  much  time  in  "the  valley  of  Gerar,"  before  he  went  to 
dwell  in  "the  valley  of  Beersheba,"  which  is  no  more  than  the 
extension  of  the  former,  upon  the  same  river  or  winter  torrent. 
What  is  related  in  this  paragraph  took  place  in  Beersheba,  as  we 
are  expressly  told  in  vr.  31;  which  was  not  the  "land  of  the  Phil- 
istines," as  is  implied,  if  not  stated,  in  vr.  32;  and  this  makes  it 
extremely  difficult  to  explain  satisfactorily  vr.  34;  which,  in  con- 
tinuation of  the  foregoing,  says  that  Abraham  passed  much  time 
in  the  land  of  the  Philistines.  It  would  be  very  easy  to  translate 
it  "had  passed  many  days  in  the  land  of  the  Philistines,"  and  so 
avoid  the  difficulty,  were  it  not  that  it  appears  to  allude  to  the 
grove  which  Abraham  planted  in  Beersheba,  and  where  he  passed 
at  least  forty  years,  except  the  little  time  that  he  was  in 
Hebron,  where  Sarah  died  and  was  buried.  Ch.  23.  In  Beersheba 
Isaac  was  married,  and  there  probably  Abraham  passed  his  old 
age;  although  he  also  was  buried  in  the  cave  of  Macphelah,  near 
to  Hebron. 

A  satisfactory  solution  of  the  difficulty  may  perhaps  be  found 
in  the  supposition  that  in  a  wide  sense  the  pastures  of  Beersheba 
were  regarded  as  lands  annexed  to  the  kingdom  of  Abimelech, 
being  only  20  or  25  miles  distant  from  Gerar;  the  herdsmen  of 
Gerar  going  as  far  as  that,  ,or  farther,  for  the  pasturage  of  their 
cattle,  and  where  by  hrute  force  they  took  away  from  Abraham 
this  same  well  of  Beersheba,  under  the  pretext  doubtless  that 
the  waters  were  theirs;  just  as  they  did  with  the  herdsmen 
of  Isaac  after  the  death  of  his  father.  Ch.  26:  20,  21.  On  the 
other  hand,  when  it  is  said  in  vr.  32  that  after  making  a  covenant 
with  Abraham  in  Beersheba,  Abimelech  and  Picol,  the  captain  of 


254  GENESIS 

his  army,  "returned  to  the  land  of  the  Philistines,"  it  is  easy  to 
understand  that  what  is  meant  is  that  they  returned  from  those 
unoccupied  pasture-lands  to  Gerar,  and  to  the  inhabited  part  of 
his  kingdom. 

At  that  time,  therefore,  and  after  the  departure  of  Hagar  and 
her  son  Ishmael,  and  when  Abraham  had  moved  his  encampment 
up  the  valley,  until  he  arrived  at  the  place  afterwards  called 
Beersheba,  and  had  digged  there  the  famous  well  which  gave 
name  to  the  city  that  in  coming  years  grew  up  near  to  it. 
Abimelech  and  Picol  made  him  a  visit,  in  order  to  secure  by 
covenant  an  enduring  basis  of  peace  with  him.  The  motive, — 
it  is  not  easy  to  penetrate  the  motives  of  the  Orientals;  but  the 
occasion  might  well  have  been  the  disagreement  about  that  well, 
which  the  servants  of  Abimelech  had  violently  taken  away  from 
Abraham,  although  Abimelech  protested  his  entire  ignorance  of 
it;  for  it  is  the  universal  testimony  of  travelers  that  the  Orientals 
lie  without  scruple,  unless  an  oath  is  required  of  them; — 
something  which  they  horribly  fear.  Near  to  the  north  bank 
of  the  wide  and  dry  torrent-bed  or  "waddy,"  Dr.  Robinson  says 
that  he  found  two  very  aged  wells  with  an  abundance  of  water 
and  of  the  best  quality,  about  300  yards  apart;  of  these  "the 
larger  one  (which  he  says  may  well  have  been  the  one  whichi 
Abraham  dug)  measures  12 1^  feet  in  width,  and  44 1^  feet  in 
depth,  down  to  the  surface  of  the  water;  of  which  16  feet  was 
cut  in  the  solid  rock."  Researches,  Vol.  I,  pp.  300,  301.  If  this 
be  the  well  which  they  took  away  from  him,  it  is  not  strange  that 
Abraham  should  complain  of  the  injustice  done  him.  So  then 
Abimelech  came  a  distance  of  20  or  25  miles,  with  some  troops 
doubtless  (as  he  brought  with  him  the  captain  of  his  army),  to 
celebrate  a  lasting  covenant  of  peace  with  this  great  prince 
Abraham,  whose  friendship  might  be  worth  much  to  him,  and 
whose  enmity  might  cause  him  serious  harm.  Abimelech  asked 
a  solemn  oath  of  Abraham.  Abraham  readily  granted  the  oath 
that  was  asked,  and  he  took  occasion  from  so  favorable  a  junc- 
ture to  reprove  Abimelech  about  the  well  which  the  servants  or 
herdsmen  of  Abimelech  had  taken  from  him;  this  friend  of  God 
having  suffered  the  trampling  upon  his  rights  rather  than  resist 
by  force,  which  he  might  well  have  done.  On  similar  occasions, 
Isaac  dug  other  wells,  when  the  herdsmen  of  Gerar  "filled  with 
earth  all  the  wells  his  father  had  dug,"  and  took  from  him 
successively  two  other  wells  which  he  himself  had  dug.  Ch.  26: 
15.  And  it  is  at  least  possible  that  when  they  took  away  from 
Abraham  the  first,  he  dug  the  second  well  which  still  is  found  in 
that  place,  300  yards  distant  from  the  other. 


CHAPTER  21:  22—34  255 

It  is  not  easy  to  understand  why  Abraham,  the  aggrieved 
party,  should  take  sheep  and  cattle  and  give  them  to  Abimelech, 
the  offending  party,  unless  it  be  explained  by  the  words  which 
follow:  "and  they  two  made  {Heh.  cut)  a  covenant."  The 
phrase  appropriated  to  making  covenants  in  Hebrew  is  "to  cut  a 
covenant";  which  probably  took  its  origin  from  the  ceremony 
minutely  described  in  ch.  15:  9 — 17;  and,  in  this  case,  to  give 
greater  force  and  validity  to  the  covenant,  it  would  seem  that 
Abraham  gave  the  animals  to  Abimelech,  that  he  might  make  the 
customary  sacrifices  and  cut  in  twain  the  victims,  between  the 
divided  parts  of  which  the  contracting  parties  were  to  pass.  See 
the  ceremony  described  in  ch.  15:  6 — 18.  From  this  circum- 
stance the  place  took  its  name,  "Beer-sheba"  (="Well  of  the 
oath") ;  a  name,  which  in  its  Arabic  form  continues  till  today; 
and  near  to  such  abundant  and  good  waters  was  slowly  built  the 
well-known  city  of  that  name,  in  those  days  when  such  a  well  of 
water  was  enough  for  a  whole  city.  Ch.  24:  11;  28:  2,  3;  John  4: 
6 — 12.  Then,  in  order  to  confirm  the  solemn  transaction  with 
greater  abundance  of  proof,  Abraham  took  seven  ewe  lambs  of  the 
flock  and  set  them  by  themselves;  an  action  which  Abimelech 
did  not  understand;  and  on  asking  what  it  meant,  Abraham  re- 
plied that  Abimelech  must  take  them  from  his  hand  and  keep 
them,  as  a  testimonal  that  he,  Abraham,  was  the  owner  of  that 
well  in  Beersheba,  and  that  he  had  dug  it.  When  these  cere- 
monies were  concluded,  which  were  of  great  importance  in  those 
times,  Abimelech  and  Picol  and  their  attendants  "returned  to  the 
land  of  the  Philistines." 

There  in  Beersheba  Abraham  planted  a  grove,  and  in  that 
locality  he  remained  for  many  years.  There  he  was  living  when 
he  made  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac  (ch.  22:  19);  there  he  was  living 
when  Isaac  married  (ch.  24:  62);  and  it  is  probable  that  (with 
occasional  visits  to  Hebron,  the  place  of  his  sepulchre  and  that 
of  his  wife)  there  he  passed  the  evening  of  his  long  life;  enjoying 
the  grateful  shade  of  his  grove,  and  the  tranquillity  which  com- 
ported with  the  nobility  and  grandeur  of  his  character.  With 
regard  to  this  "grove"  there  is  some  difference  of  opinion.  The 
Revised  English  "Version  says  that  he  planted  a  "tamarisk  tree." 
But  as  the  tamarisk  is  scarcely  more  than  a  shrub,  according  to 
the  Standard  Dictionary  and  the  Diccionario  Castellano  of  the 
Academy  (or  if  it  is  the  same  thing  as  the  Spanish  "taray,"  it  is, 
according  to  the  same  authority,  but  "a  small  tree  which  grows 
up  in  low  coppices"),  we  cannot  comprehend  how  this  was  a  cir- 
cumstance worthy  of  record,  or  of  what  utility  even  a  grove  of 
tamarisks  could  be  to  Abraham  and   his  encampment.     There 


256  GENESIS 

exists  a  great  deal  of  uncertainty  witli  regard  to  the  flora  and 
fauna  (=  plants  and  animals)  of  the  Bible,  and  whatever  may 
have  been  the  kind  of  tree,  "a  grove,"  as  used  in  the  A.  V. 
comes  to  supply  us  with  a  comprehensive  term  which  is  suitable 
to  them  all.  There,  then,  in  this  grove,  and  under  its  grateful 
shade,  Abraham  placed  his  altar,  and  there  "he  invoked  the  name 
of  Jehovah,  the  Eternal  (or  Everlasting)  God." 

We  have  here  another  new  name  of  the  true  God,  who  was  re- 
vealing himself  in  a  world  which  had  willingly  forgotten  him — 
"Jehovah,  the  Eternal  God."  In  ch.  14,  Melchisedec  blessed  Abra- 
ham in  the  name  of  "God  Most  High,  possessor  of  the  heavens  and 
the  earth";  but  that  there  might  remain  no  room  for  doubt  as  to 
who  he  was,  Abraham  said  to  the  king  of  Sodom:  "I  have  lifted 
up  my  hand  unto  Jehovah,  the  Most  High  God,  possessor  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth."  In  this  place  he  invoked  him  under  the 
name  of  "Jehovah,  the  Eternal  God."  Clear  proofs  are  these  that 
the  name  "Jehovah"  was  in  use  in  the  days  of  Abraham;  what- 
ever "the  critics"  may  have  to  say  about  it.  See  comments  on 
ch.  10:  9;  Ex.  3:  13,  14;  and  6:  2,  3. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

VRS.  1 — 14.      ABRAHAM,  IN  THE  LAST  AND  GREAT  TRIAL  OF  HIS  FAITH, 
OFFERS  UP  IN   SACRIFICE  HIS   SON,    THAT  IS  TO  SAY,  HE  WAS  ABOUT 

TO  DO  IT.    See  Heb.  11:  17.     (1872  b.  c.) 

1  And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  God  did  prove 
Abraham,  and  said  unto  him,  Abraham ;  and  he  said,  Here  am  I. 

2  And  he  said.  Take  now  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  whom  thou 
lovest,  even  Isaac,  and  get  thee  into  the  land  of  Moriah ;  and  offer 
him  there  for  a  burnt-offering  upon  one  of  the  mountains  which  I  will 
tell  thee  of. 

3  And  Abraham  rose  early  in  the  morning,  and  saddled  his  ass, 
and  took  two  of  his  young  men  with  him,  and  Isaac  his  son ;  and 
he  clave  tlie  wood  for  the  burnt-offering,  and  rose  up,  and  went  unto 
the  place  of  which  God  had  told  him. 

4  On  the  third  day  Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  saw  the  place 
afar  off. 

5  And  Abraham  said  unto  his  young  men,  Abide  ye  here  with  the 
ass,  and  I  and  the  lad  will  go  yonder ;  and  we  will  worship,  and  come 
again  to  you. 

6  And  Abraham  took  the  wood  of  the  burnt-offering,  and  laid  it 
upon  Isaac  his  son ;  and  he  took  in  his  hand  the  fire  and  the  knife ; 
and  they  went  both  of  them  together. 

7  And  Isaac  spake  unto  Abraham  his  father,  and  said,  My  father : 
and  he  said.  Here  am  I,  my  son.  And  he  said.  Behold,  the  fire  and 
the  wood:  but  where  is  the  lamb  for  a  burnt  offering? 

8  And  Abraham  said,  God  will  provide  himself  the  lamb  for  a 
burnt-offering,  my  son  :  so  they  went  both  of  them  together. 

9  And  they  came  to  the  place  which  God  had  told  him  of;  and 
Abraham  built  the  altar  there,  and  laid  the  wood  in  order,  and  bound 
Isaac  his  son,  and  laid  him  on  the  altar,  upon  the  wood, 


CHAPTER  22:  1—14  257 

10  And  Abraham  stretched  forth  his  hand,  and  took  the  knife 
to  slay  his  son. 

11  And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  called  nnto  him  out  of  heaven,  and 
said,  Abraham,  Abraham ;  and  he  said,  Here  am  I. 

12  And  he  said,  Lay  not  thy  hand  upon  the  lad,  neither  do  thou 
anything  unto  him ;  for  now  l"  know  that  thou  foarest  God,  seeing 
thou  has  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  from  me. 

13  And  Abraham  lifted  up  bis  eyes,  and  looked,  and,  behold, 
behind  him  a  ram  caught  in  the  thicket  by  his  horns;  and  Abraham 
went  and  took  the  ram,  and  offered  him  up  for  a  burnt-offering  in  the 
stead  of  his  son. 

14  And  Abraham  called  the  name  of  that  place  Jehovah-jireh  :• 
as  it  is  said  to  this  day,  In  the  mount  of  Jehovah  it  shall  be 
provided. 

•That  is,  Jehovah  will  see,  or  provide. 

Another  trial  awaited  "the  father  of  all  them  that  believe." 
Rom.  4:  11.  Abraham  had,  like  all  men,  his  weaknesses  and  his 
sins,  as  we  have  already  seen;  he  had  therefore  no  righteousnes3 
of  his  own  in  which  to  trust;  nor  in  respect  of  good  works  and 
perfection  of  life,  did  he  excel  rnany  other  servants  of  God.  In 
what  he  did  excel  was  in  that  which  had  to  do  with  his  faith, 
in  that  God  who  had  called  him  to  himself  from  the  idolatries  of 
his  native  land  and  of  his  family,  that  in  him  and  in  his  seed  all 
the  families  of  the  earth  might  be  blessed.  This  was  his  dis- 
tinguishing trait,  his  super-excellent  glory;  and  for  that  very 
reason,  God  proved  and  refined  his  faith.  Human  virtues  are 
cheap  enough,  when  contrasted  with  the  faith  of  those  who  are 
truly  the  people  of  God.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  we  insist 
forever  on  this,  with  those  who  (despising  the  gospel  light, 
which  has  made  them  what  they  are),  go  seeking  human  virtues 
and  good  works,  and  moral  sentences  among  the  philosophers  of 
the  gentile  world,  and  among  those  decent  people  at  home  who 
reject  the  Bible  and  make  light  of  the  claims  of  Jesus  Christ; 
in  order  to  set  them  in  invidious  comparison  with  the  gospel  of 
the  grace  of  God.  With  God,  of  what  worth  are  all  the  boasted 
good  works  and  beautiful  natural  endowments  of  those  who  re- 
ject with  disdain  his  Son,  and  who  refuse  to  believe  in  his  re- 
vealed will,  or  who  even  deny  his  existence?  Faith,  therefore  (not 
insistence  in  the  opinions  and  teachings  of  men,  nor  in  the  beliefs 
and  practices  of  one's  forefathers,  nor  in  the  doctrines  of  one's 
church,  sect  or  party;  nor  still  less,  a  stubborn  adhesion  to 
one's  own  way  of  thinking;  but  the  intelligent  and  cordial  accept- 
ance of  the  testimony  which  God,  by  supernatural  revelation,  has 
given  us  of  himself,  and  of  Jiis  will  and  ways) — faith,  thus  un- 
derstood, is  of  all  things  in  this  apostate  world  the  most  precious, 
and  is  the  root  of  all  human  virtues  which  have  any  real  value 
with  God.    Because  "without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  him; 


258  GENESIS 

for  he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  he  is,  and  that  he  is 
a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him."    Heb.  11:  6. 

Peter  says  that  "the  trial  of  our  faith  is  much  more  precious 
(=  estimable,  important),  than  that  of  gold,  which  though 
perishable  is  tried  {Gr.  gold  which  perisheth,  but  is  tried)  by 
means  of  fire."  1  Pet.  1:7.  If  the  trial  of  our  faith  is  so 
precious,  how  much  more  in  the  case  of  Abraham,  the  father 
and  pattern  of  those  who  from  then  till  now,  have  believed  in 
God  unto  the  saving  of  the  soul!     Heb.  10:  39. 

It  is  not  necessary  nor  convenient  for  us  to  enter  into  the  de- 
tails of  this  most  beautiful  story,  which  is  clear  enough  of  itself; 
BO  that  explanations  and  amplifications  cannot  do  less  than  de- 
tract from  its  perfection.  But  I  will  cite  what  the  apostle  says 
about  it,  in  Hebrews  11:  17 — 19:  "By  faith  Abraham,  when  he 
was  tried,  offered  up  Isaac,  and  he  that  had  received  the  promises 
offered  up  (R.  V.  was  offering  up)  his  only  begotten  son,  of 
whom  it  was  said;  In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called:  accounting 
that  God  was  able  to  raise  him  up  even  from  the  dead;  from 
whence  also  he  received  him  in  a  figure." 

It  will  be  opportune  to  call  the  attention  of  my  readers  to  cer- 
tain points  in  this  precious  story  which  ought  not  to  be  passed  by 
unobserved. 

1st.  The  promptness  of  the  faith  and  obedience  of  Abraham 
to  fulfil  whatever  his  God  ordained:  "He  rose  up  early"  to  do  it; 
and  it  would  seem  that  without  communicating  his  secret  to  any- 
body, he  started  out  on  its  performance. 

2nd.  He  left  nothing  to  chance:  with  thoughtful  care  he  made 
all  his  preparations  beforehand;  and  for  fear  that  dry  wood 
might  be  lacking  in  the  locality,  he  cut  and  split  it  at  once,  lading 
it  upon  the  ass,  which  he  carried  for  this  special  purpose.  In 
the  midst  of  the  careful  preparations  which  he  was  making, 
Isaac  may  have  noted  with  surprise  that  his  father  did  not  take 
with  him  a  lamb  of  the  many  which  he  had  in  his  folds;  but 
he  kept  silent  until,  as  they  were  going  up  together  the  mount  of 
sacrifice,  he  addressed  to  his  father  that  question  (vr.  7),  which 
must  have  broken  his  heart  to  pieces. 

3rd.  The  locality  is  of  great  significance.  In  2  Chron.  3:  1  we 
are  informed  that  Solomon  built  a  Temple  to  Jehovah  "07i  Mount 
Moriah."  Beersheba,  where  at  the  time  they  were  living  (vr. 
19),  was  25  miles  from  Hebron,  and  Hebron  was  20  miles  from 
Jerusalem;  making  45  miles  between  Beersheba  and  Mount 
Moriah,  where  the  Temple  was  built,  as  the  exclusive  place  for 
offering  sacrifices  and  burning  incense  before  Jehovah,  the  God 
of  all  the  earth.    These  45  miles  are  in  strict  agreement  with  the 


CHAPTER  22:  1—14  259 

note  of  distance  that  we  have  in  vr.  4,  that  "on  the  third  day* 
Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  saw  the  place  afar  off,"  but  near 
enough  for  him  to  leave  the  beast  of  burden  and  the  two  young 
men  there,  and  set  out  for  the  place  of  sacrifice  they  two  alone, 
Isaac  carrying  the  wood;  as  1900  years  after,  Jesus  also  carried 
his  cross,  going  to  the  same  locality.  Some  of  the  Jews,  who 
naturally  would  desire  to  avoid  this  coincidence,  place  the  site 
of  this  transaction  in  Bethel — 12  miles  to  the  north  of  Jerusalem; 
but,  although  "the  land  of  Moriah"  may  possibly  have  extended 
12  miles  farther  to  the  north,  57  miles  is  quite  too  far  to  have 
gone  there  and  fulfilled  that  work  of  faith  "on  the  third  day." 
For  those  who  believe  in  a  divine  revelation,  and  in  the  particular 
providence  of  God,  the  circumstance  that  no  other  mention  of 
"Moriah"  except  these  two  is  found  in  all  the  Bible,  and  that  the 
site  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon  corresponds  well  with  the  note  of 
distance  which  Genesis  gives  us,  will  be  enough  to  prove  satisfac- 
torily that  the  all-wise  God  who  ordained  that  "upon  one  of  the 
mountains  of  the  land  of  Moriah"  Abraham  should  make  the 
great  sacrifice,  would  ordain  likewise  that  this  should  be  the 
very  spot  where  the  Eternal  Father  1900  years  afterwards  was 
to  offer  his  great  sacrifice — that  of  his  only  begotten  Son — for  the 
sins  of  his  believing  people,  the  spiritual  children  of  this  same 
Abraham. 

4th.  The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  fixes  our  at- 
tention upon  the  fact  that  he  who  offered  this  sacrifice  "was  he 
that  had  received  the  promises,"  and  the  victim  of  the  sacrifice 
was  "his  only  begotten  son,"  for  whose  advent  he  had  waited  25 
years,  and  in  whom  the  promises  given  were  to  have  their  ful- 
filment. There  we  see  the  resplendent  glory  of  this  faith  of 
Abraham,  that  he  did  not  hesitate  on  this  account,  nor  ask  his 
God  if  he  had  forgotten  his  promises;  nor  require  of  him  any 
explanation  of  how  he  was  going  to  fulfil  them,  if  Isaac  was  to 
perish  under  the  sacrificial  knife,  and  his  body  be  reduced  to 
ashes  on  the  altar;  but  without  entering  on  inquiries,  nor  asking 
explanations  of  any  sort,  he  was  about  to  crown  his  faith  with 
the  corresponding  work,  "considering  that  even  from  among  the 
dead  God  was  able  to  raise  him  up;  from  whence  also  he  re- 
ceived him  in  a  figure."  Thus  ought  faith  to  work  in  us,  that 
God  may  be  glorified  in  us. 

5th.  We  indigi^antly  reject  the  suggestion  of  some  of  the 
"critics,"  that,  as  it  was  then  common  in  that  country  to  offer 
human    sacrifices,    God    wished    to    prove    whether    his    servant 

'Fifteen  miles  a  day  is  still  the  usual  rate  of  travel  in  mountain  coun- 
tries like  the  Andes. — Tr. 


260  GENESIS 

Abraham  had  the  valor  and  firmness  to  make  for  him  as  costly  a 
sacrifice,  as  the  zealous  pagans  offered  to  their  gods  of  wood  and 
stone  and  brass.  See  Geike's  Hours  with  the  Bible.  So  a 
Canaanite  contemporary  of  Abraham  might  regard  it,  but  not  a 
Christian  who  uses  his  Bible  as  he  ought.  In  reference  to  the 
difficulty  of  an  opposite  character,  which  infidels  raise,  that  it  is 
"a  barbarity"  even  to  think  that  God  should  command  Abraham 
to  offer  such  a  sacrifice,  it  will  be  suflBcient  to  say,  that  as  they 
deny  that  "God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son"  as  a  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  they  are  simply 
consistent  in  denying  that  he  should  command  Abraham  to  offer 
such  a  sacrifice  (which  he  was  going  to  prevent  before  it  was 
carried  into  execution) ;  thus  shadowing  forth  that  other  sacrifice 
which  1900  years  afterwards  was  to  be  carried  into  effect  in  the 
same  locality.  If  they  would  accept  the  testimony  of  the  word 
of  God  in  the  one  part,  they  would  find  no  difiiculties  In  the 
other.  If  it  was  no  crime  for  God,  by  the  hands  of  wicked  men, 
to  bring  about  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  Son  for  us,  neither  was  it 
a  crime,  nor  "a  barbarity,"  that  he  should  command  Abraham  to 
prefigure  all  that  in  his  own  family. 

6th.  Four  words,  or  phrases,  here  call  our  attention:  1. 
"Take  in  thy  hand  the  fire,"  seems  to  indicate  that  the  use  of  the 
flint  and  steel  was  not  at  that  time  known.  2.  "The  lad"  (M. 
S.  v.,  young  man).  The  general  use  of  the  word  "lad"  in  the 
different  Versions  has  given  rise  to  the  idea  that  Isaac  was  at  that 
time  about  fifteen  years  old.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  about 
twenty  five,  according  to  the  common  chronology;  and  the  word 
"young  man"  better  expresses  the  idea  of  the  Hebrew,  which 
three  times  in  this  chapter  uses  the  very  same  word  in  speaking 
of  the  "young  men"  whom  Abraham  brought  with  him  as  servants, 
Vrs.  3,  5,  19.  It  is  likewise  the  same  word  which  Abraham  uses 
in  reference  to  his  soldiers,  in  ch.  14:  24.  Isaac  was  man  enough 
to  carry  up  the  hill,  or  mountain  side,  the  wood  of  sacrifice, 
which  up  to  that  point  had  been  carried  by  the  ass,  and  therefore 
he  was  fully  able  to  resist  his  father,  if  he  himself  had  not  con- 
sented to  the  sacrifice  which  God  demanded.  This  was  as 
illustrious  an  act  of  obedience  on  his  part  as  on  the  part  of  his 
father,  and  reminds  us  of  the  case  of  Him  who  said  of  his  life: 
"No  man  taketh  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself.  I  have 
power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again. 
This  commandment  have  I  received  of  my  father:"  John  10:  18. 
And  in  the  matter  of  Isaac's  carrying  the  wood  of  his  own  sacri- 
fice, we  see  at  once  the  likeness  to  Jesus,  who  went  forth  to  the 
place  of  his  great  sacrifice  "bearing  his  cross."     3.     So  also  the 


CHAPTER  22:  15—19  261 

words  "Now  I  know  that  thou  f  earest  God."  As  a  matter  of  simple, 
intuitive  knowledge,  God  knew  it  before;  but,  humanly  speaking,  he 
had  then  positive  proof  and  experience  of  it.  To  the  same  effect 
Jesus  said  in  the  passage  already  quoted:  "Therefore  doth  my 
Father  love  me  [=  this  constituted  a  new,  peculiar  and  pre-emi- 
nent ground  of  the  Divine  complacency],  because  I  lay  down  my 
life  that  I  might  take  it  again.  No  man  taketh  it  from  me,"  etc. 
John  10:  17,  18.  Here,  as  in  all  the  Bible,  "the  fear  of  God"  is 
put  for  practical  religion  and  true  piety.  4.  In  this  history,  Je- 
hovah calls  Isaac  "thy  son,  thine  only  son;"  and  the  apostle  in 
Hebrews  11:  17  speaks  of  him  as  his  "only  begotten  son."  Isaac 
was  his  "only  son"  by  his  own  proper  wife;  and  It  was  usual  to 
make  that  distinction  in  such  cases.  Jacob,  led  into  polygamy 
against  his  will,  never  recognized  any  one  except  Rachel  as  his 
proper  wife,  and  her  sons  he  always  regarded  as  different  from 
the  rest.  See  ch.  44:  27—29;  48:  6,  7,  22.  "Only  begotten  son" 
he  was  also  in  a  certain  sense,  inasmuch  as  he  was  the  only  one  of 
the  promise,  and  in  case  of  his  death  there  was  none  of  the 
other  sons  who  could  fill  his  place;  resurrection  from  the  dead, 
as  the  apostle   intimates,  alone  would  have  sufficed  in  such  a 


22:  15 — 19.    GOD  eenews  to  Abraham  the  great  promise. 
(1872  B.  c.) 

15  And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  called  unto  Abraham  a  second  time 
out    of    heaven, 

16  and  said,  By  myself  have  I  sworn,  saith  Jehovah,  because  thou 
hast  done  this  thing,  and  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son, 

17  that  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  and  in  multiplying  I  will 
multiply  thy  seed  as  the  stars  of  the  heavens,  and  as  the  sand  which 
Is  upon  the  sea-shore ;  and  thy  seed  shall  possess  the  gate  of  his 
enemies ; 

IS  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed ; 
because  thou  hast  obeyed  my  voice. 

19  So  Abraham  returned  unto  his  young  men,  and  they  rose  up 
and  went  together  to  Beer-sheba ;  and  Abraham  dwelt  at  Beer- 
sheba. 

The  divine  person  who  intervened  in  this  matter  is  twice  called 
"the  Angel  of  Jehovah"  (vrs.  11,  15)  and  both  times  it  is  said 
that  he  spoke  "out  of  heaven" — in  Hebrew  "heaven"  and  "the 
heavens"  are  the  same  thing.  Revelations  in  different  forms 
Abraham  had  had,  but  this  is  the  first  time  that  he  was  spoken 
to  out  of  the  heavens; — according  to  the  information  given  us 
in  this  book.  Thus  spoke  the  same  divine  person,  with  the  same 
name,  to  Hagar,  the  second  time  that  he  spoke  with  her;  that  is 
to  say,  "out  of  the  heavens."  Ch.  21:  17.  The  proof  that  it  was 
really  Jehovah  who  thus  spoke,  is  seen  in  vrs.  12  and  16;    and 


262  GENESIS 

is  more  amply  set  forth  in  JVoie  22  (page  187)  "on  the  Angel  of 
Jehovah."  For  this  reason  in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version  the 
word  "Angel"  in  these  passages  is  printed  with  a  capital  letter. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  observe  here  that  in  vr.  12,  this  Angel 
says  to  Abraham:  "Put  not  forth  thy  hand  against  the  young 
man,  nor  do  anything  to  him;  for  now  I  know  that  thou  fearest 
God,  seeing  thou  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son, 
Irom  me."  For  the  second  time  the  Angel  cried  to  Abraham  out 
of  heaven,  and  this  time  he  speaks  plainly  under  the  name  of 
Jehovah,  saying:  "By  myself  I  have  sworn,  saith  Jehovah,  be- 
cause thou  hast  done  this,  and  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,"  etc.; 
and  then  he  expressly  repeats  the  covenanted  blessings  promised 
to  his  posterity  and  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  To  the  bless- 
ings already  promised,  he  adds  now:  "And  thy  seed  shall  possess 
the  gate  of  their  enemies";  which  is  a  promise  of  having  and 
maintaining  the  dominion  over  them.  As  the  gate  of  ancient 
cities  was  the  strongest  part  of  the  wall  and  the  most  stoutly 
defended,  and  as  it  was  the  principal  place  of  concourse  for  the 
people,  where  public  affairs  were  transacted,  and  justice  was  ad- 
ministered, "to  possess  the  gate"  of  a  city  was  really  to  possess 
the  city  itself  with  all  its  interests  and  concerns. 

The  motive  and  reason  for  this  renewal  or  repetition  of  the 
great  promise  at  this  juncture  was,  as  God  said,  "because  thou 
hast  done  this,  and  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son 
from  me."  To  this  illustrious  act  of  faith  God  doubtless  referred, 
when,  on  confirming  the  sworn  covenant  in  the  hands  of  Isaac, 
he  said  that  he  would  do  that  which  he  had  sworn  to  Abraham, 
"because  Abraham  obeyed  my  voice,  and  kept  my  charge,  my 
commandments,  my  statutes  and  my  laws."  Ch.  26:  5.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  this  particular  act  of  faith  and  obedience  was 
of  inestimable  value  with  God.  It  reminds  us  of  those  words 
already  cited,  and  worthy  of  repetition,  so  like  to  these  in  form 
and  spirit:  "Therefore  doth  my  Father  love  me,  because  I  lay 
down  my  life  that  I  might  take  it  again.  No  man  taketh  it  from 
me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself;  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down  and 
I  have  power  to  take  it  again.  This  commandment  have  I  received 
of  my  father."  John  10:  17,  18.  Jesus  did  not  do  this  of  his  own 
motion  (any  more  than  did  Abraham),  but  in  obedience  to  a 
commandment.  And  Paul  says  that  it  was  because  of  his  "obedi- , 
ence  unto  death  and  the  death  of  the  cross,"  that  "God  hath 
highly  exalted  him,  and  given  him  a  name  that  is  above  every 
name."  Phil.  2:  8,  9.  And  although  these  works  and  voluntary 
sufferings  of  Christ,  done  on  our  behalf,  in  obedience  to  the  will 
of  God,  had  an  infinite  value,  while  those  of  Abraham  had  none 


CHAPTER  22:  15—19  263 

•whatever  as  a  basis  of  confidence  in  himself,  or  a  means  of  ob- 
taining a  justifying  righteousness  with  God,  it  should  never  be 
doubted  nor  forgotten  that,  as  regards  their  value  and  estima- 
tion with  God,  this  act  of  faith  and  obedience  of  Abraham 
possessed  it  in  the  highest  degree.  We  should  never  allow  our 
pretest  against  the  false  and  pernicious  Romish  doctrine  of  the 
merits  of  good  works  to  obtain  remission  of  sins  and  eternal  life, 
to  obscure  in  the  slightest  degree  the  Bible  doctrine  of  the  in- 
estimable value  which  his  people's  heroic  acts  of  faith,  and 
their  humble,  sincere  and  spontaneous  obedience  to  his  revealed 
will,  have  with  God.  Let  us  be  intelligent  and  self-consistent  in 
this:  "All  our  righteousnesses  are  as  filthy  rags"  (Isa.  G4:  6), 
when  regarded  as  a  ground  of  merit  before  God,  and  as  the  basis 
of  justification  and  peace  with  him;  but  as  the  fruit  of  our  faith 
and  obedience,  he  esteems  them  of  great  price,  and  will  most 
munificently  reward  them  all;  so  that  even  a  cup  of  cold  water, 
given  in  the  name  of  a  disciple  "shall  in  no  wise  lose  its  reward," 
as  Jesus  himself  says.    Matt.  19:  29.    Comp.  1  Peter  3:  4. 

To  the  same  effect  says  the  Holy  Spirit  in  Heb.  13:  16:  "But 
to  do  good  and  to  communicate  forget  not;  for  with  such  sacri- 
fices God  is  well  pleased."  Moses  celebrates  the  work  of  Abra- 
ham, and  Paul  his  faith,  of  which  his  work  was  the  legitimate 
and  indispensable  fruit.  His  faith  without  the  corresponding 
work  would  have  been  a  lie;  his  work  without  his  faith — that  is 
to  say  without  being  founded  on  the  word  and  commandment  of 
God — would  have  been  a  crime.  The  virtue  of  it  all  consisted  in  the 
fact  that  he  acted  in  obedience  to  what  God  had  commanded  him 
to  do.  Without  this,  it  would  have  been  in  no  respect  better  than 
the  corresponding  act  of  the  pagan  Canaanites,  and  of  Israelitish 
idolaters,  in  whom  it  was  regarded  and  held  as  the  most 
aggravated  form  of  their  numerous  abominations,  that  they  of- 
fered their  own  sons  and  daughters  in  sacrifice  to  their  idols. 
Deut.  12:  31;   18:  10;   Ps.  106:  37,  38;   Jer.  19:  5. 

No  such  sacrifice  is  demanded  of  us  as  this  of  Abraham;  but  if 
Christian  parents  withhold  their  children  from  God,  when  he 
calls  them  to  the  missionary  work,  or  to  any  other  difficult  or 
painful  enterprise  of  his,  or  if  they  rebel  against  his  manifest 
will,  when  he  takes  them  away  by  the  hand  of  death,  it  is  a  sad 
proof  that  they  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  obedience  of  Abra- 
ham, or  of  the  blessing  that  accompanied  it:  "Because  thou  hast 
not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  from  me." 

When  this  sacrifice  was  finished,  which  God  regarded  as  an 
accomplished  work  (Heb.  11:  17),  in  view  of  the  undivided  pur- 
pose with  which  his  servant  undertook  to  excute  what  was  com- 


264  GENESIS 

manded,  Abraham  and  Isaac  returned  to  their  young  men,  who 
waited  with  the  ass  at  the  foot  of  the  mount,  and  setting  out  on 
their  journey,  they  returned  to  Beersheba;  and  there  they  abode 
for  many  years. 

22:  20 — 24.     Abraham  receives  tidings  from  the  family  of  his 
brother  nahor.     (1872  (?)   b.  c.) 

20  And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  it  was  told  Abra- 
ham, saying,  Behold,  Milcah,  she  also  hath  borne  children  unto  thy 
brother  Nahor  : 

21  Uz  his  first-born,  and  Buz  his  brother,  and  Kemuel  the  father 
of  Aram, 

22  and  Chesed,  and  Hazo,  and  Pildash,  and  Jidlaph,  and  Bethuel. 

23  And  Bethuel  begat  Kebekah ;  these  eight  did  Milcah  bear  to 
Nahor,  Abraham's  brother. 

24  And  his  concubine,  whose  name  was  Reumah,  she  also  bare 
Tebah,  and  Gaham,  and  Tahash,  and  Maacah. 

Some  time  after  what  is  related  in  the  preceding  paragraph, 
Abraham  received  this  intelligence  from  his  brother's  family. 
The  common  chronology,  given  in  our  Bibles,  reckons  that  this 
occurred  the  same  year.  The  commentator  Adam  Clarke  sup- 
poses that  it  happened  ten  years  later:  it  would  be  as  easy  to  sup- 
pose that  it  was  twelve  or  fourteen.  If  we  conjecture  that  Isaac 
was  twenty  five  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  sacrifice  which  was 
not  carried  into  effect,  there  would  remain  fifteen  years  until  the 
time  of  his  marriage  with  Rebekah;  because  he  was  forty  years 
old  at  that  time  (ch.  25:  20);  but  as  it  is  certain  that  these 
tidings  had  to  do  with  that  marriage,  and  are  mentioned  here  for 
that  reason,  fifteen  years  seems  to  us  an  unreasonable  interval. 

It  would  seem  that  in  those  times  little  intelligence  passed 
between  the  separated  members  of  the  same  family.  The  dis- 
tance was  about  500  miles  in  a  direct  line  between  Beersheba  and 
Haran,  the  city  o^  Nahor;  and  when  Jacob  passed  twenty  years 
there,  it  does  not  appear  that  in  all  that  time  he  had  tidings  from 
the  family  of  his  father  Isaac.  It  is  probable  that  Abraham  had 
not  had  tidings  from  his  brother  in  many  years,  when  there 
came  to  him  this  opportune  intelligence  with  reference  to  the 
number  and  even  the  names  of  the  children  of  his  brother  Nahor; 
twelve  in  all,  together  with  one  grandson,  and  one  granddaughter, 
Rebekah,  the  daughter  of  Bethuel,  who  later  became  the  wife  of 
Isaac.  Such  information  would  be  interesting  in  itself,  but  as 
Rebekah  is  expressly  mentioned,  and  by  name,  it  is  to  be  sup- 
posed that  it  is  given  here,  after  the  escape  of  Isaac  from  a 
sacrificial  death,  as  a  prelude  to  the  embassy  in  search  of  a  wife 
for  Isaac,  which  occupies  the  whole  of  chapter  24. 


CHAPTER  23:  1—9  265 

CHAPTER   XXni. 

VES.  1 — 9.   THE  DEATH  AND  BUEIAL  OF  SAKAH,   (1860  B.  C.) 

1  And  the  life  of  Sarah  was  a  hundred  and  seven  and  twenty 
years  :  these  were  the  years  of  the  life  of  Sarah. 

2  And  Sarah  died  in  Kiriath-arba  (the  same  is  Hebron),  in  the 
land  of  Canaan :  and  Abraham  came  to  mourn  for  Sarah,  and  to 
weep  for  her. 

3  And  Abraham  rose  up  from  before  his  dead,  and  spake  unto  the 
children  of  Heth,  saying, 

4  I  am  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner  with  you :  give  me  a  possession 
of  a  burying-place  with  you,  that  I  may  bury  my  dead  out  of  my 
sight. 

5  And  the  children  of  Heth  answered  Abraham,  saying  unto  him, 

6  Hear  us,  my  lord:  thou  art  a  prince  of  God*  among  us;  in  the 
choice  of  our  sepulchres  bury  thy  dead ;  none  of  us  shall  withhold  from 
thee  his  sepulchre,  but  that  thou  mayest  bury  thy  dead. 

7  And  Abraham  rose  up,  and  bowed  himself  to  the  people  of  the 
land,  even  to  the  children  of  Heth. 

8  And  he  communed  with  them,  saying.  If  it  be  your  mind  that 
I  should  bury  my  dead  out  of  my  sight,  hear  me,  and  entreat  for  me 
to  Ephron  the  son  of  Zohar, 

9  that  he  may  give  me  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  which  he  hath, 
which  is  in  the  end  of  his  field ;  for  the  full  price  let  him  give  it  to 
me  in  the  midst  of  you  for  a  possession  of  a  burying-place. 

i*A.  V.  and  M.  S.  V.,  a  mighty  prince.] 

The  longest  life  comes  to  an  end  at  last.  At  127  years  of  age 
Sarah,  "the  princess,"  died.  It  is  probable  that  she  died  of  sick- 
ness rather  than  of  old  age,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Abraham  at- 
tained to  175  years,  and  Isaac  to  180;  and  in  our  day  it  is  ordi- 
nary for  women  to  live  to  be  as  old  as  men.  It  is  likewise  possible 
that  she  died  unexpectedly,  if  we  are  to  understand  literally  the 
words  "Sarah  died  in  Hebron,  and  Abraham  came  to  mourn  for 
Sarah  and  to  weep  for  her."  Whence  then  did  he  come?  We  have 
seen  that  Abraham  lived  many  long  years  in  Beersheba,  and  we 
shall  see  that,  after  this,  he  continued  to  live  long  near  to  his 
famous  well  of  this  name,  and  under  the  shade  of  the  grove  which 
he  had  planted  there.  But  Hebron  also  had  been  the  place  of  his 
residence,  in  the  oak-grove  of  Mamre,  situated  25  miles  to  the  N. 
E.  of  Beersheba  (and  20  to  the  south  of  Jerusalem),  where  Abra- 
ham resided  for  twenty  years,  when  the  events  happened  that  are 
related  from  ch.l3:  8  till  ch.  20:  1,  that  is  to  say,  till  after  the 
destruction  of  Sodom;  and  as  the  usages  of  the  Orientals  do  not 
admit  of  the  supposition  that  Sarah  was  there  on  a  visit  to 
friends,  it  is  probable  that  Abraham  had  his  immense  encamp- 
ment and  estate  divided  between  different  localities,  for  the  con- 
venience of  pasturage,  and  that  Sarah  was  with  one  part  in  the 
oak-grove  of  Mamre,  near  to  Hebron,  while  Abraham,  not  ex- 
pecting so  sad  an  event,  was  at  Beersheba,  looking  after  hia  in- 
terests there. 


266  GENESIS 

Hebron  still  exists,  and  with  Damascus  the  two  arc  among  the 
most  ancient  cities  of  the  world.  It  was  built  seven  years  be- 
fore the  famous  city  of  Zoan  in  Egypt  (Num.  13:  22),  by  the 
Anakim  probably,  and,  was  originally  called  Kirjath-arba  (=City 
of  Arba) ;  "the  which  Arba  was  a  great  man  among  the  Anakim." 
Josh.  14:  15.  There,  In  the  days  of  Abraham,  the  Hittites  re- 
sided (vrs.  5,  7,  20),  and  among  them  his  friend  and  ally  Mamre, 
from  whom  took  name  the  oak-grove  of  Mamre,  and  after  whom 
also  the  city  is  called  "the  city  of  Mamre,"  in  ch.  25:  27. 

There,  or  in  the  encampment  close  by,  Sarah  died;  and  Abra- 
ham came  to  mourn  for  her  and  to  weep  for  her.  This  Is  the  first 
notice  we  have  of  the  funeral  rites  of  the  old  time,  and  of  the 
mourning,  about  which  we  read  so  often  in  the  Bible;  a  custom 
which  still  forms  their  distinctive  trait  in  Oriental  lands.  The 
words  "to  mourn  for  Sarah  and  to  weep  for  her"  give  us  to  under- 
stand that  this  was  more  than  the  expression  of  his  sincere  and 
deep  mourning  for  his  aged  companion,  with  whom  he  had  walked 
in  his  life  of  sojourning  for  the  space  of  65  or  70  years;  but  in  the 
funeral  rites  so  designated  we  feel  sure  that  those  extravagancies 
would  be  avoided  which  are  usual  among  the  eastern  peoples; 
which  ill  accord  with  the  character  of  severe  simplicity  which 
marks  all  the  actions  of  this  great  prince,  the  friend  of  God. 
Isaac  was  about  36  years  of  age,  his  mother  being  about  91  at  the 
time  of  his  birth;  and  he,  being  yet  unmarried,  would  take  a 
very  pathetic  part  in  the  mourning  for  his  mother.  The  mourn- 
ing for  Jacob  in  Egj^pt,  a  thing  of  etiquette  and  ceremony,  lasted 
70  days,  and  that  of  his  burial  7  days  more.  Ch.  50:  3 — 10.  We 
are  not  told  how  many  days,  or  how  many  hours,  were  spent 
in  the  mourning  for  Sarah;  but  it  would  seem  that  Abraham 
performed  it  seated,  or  prostrate  on  the  ground;  because  when 
that  ceremony  was  ended,  "Ahraliam  rose  up  from  the  presence 
of  his  dead,"  and  spoke  with  the  children  of  Heth  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  the  possession  of  a  burial  place  where  he  might  de- 
posit the  mortal  remains  of  his  aged  companion. 

But  why  should  Abraham  have  deferred  so  important  a  matter 
till  so  inopportune  an  hour?  Undoubtedly  he  had  buried  many 
individuals  of  his  encampment  in  the  72  years  he  had  sojourned 
in  Canaan,  20  of  them  right  there  in  the  oak-grove  of  Mamre; 
so  that  he  did  not  need  a  place  of  burial  in  general,  but  the  pos- 
session of  a  burial-place  for  his  own  family.  There  did  not  exist 
among  the  Canaanites  anything  of  that  insane  prejudice  which 
exists  today  only  in  Roman  Catholic  countries  and  among  the 
Turks,  against  allowing  the  rites  of  burial  to  those  who  are  of  a 
different  religion  from  themselves,— as  If  the  mother  earth  had 


CHAPTER  23:  1—9  267 

not  space  in  her  broad  bosom  for  the  mortal  remains  of  all  her 
children,  irrespective  of  their  religious  beliefs  and  practices,  or  of 
their  moral  character:  Abraham  therefore  did  not  have  to  con- 
tend against  prejudices  of  this  nature;  why  then  did  he  not  have 
the  place  already  prepared?  It  is  probable  that  from  a  period 
antedating  the  destruction  of  Sodom  (at  which  time  Abraham 
departed  for  the  South  country)  he  knew  perfectly  well  this  cave 
of  Machpelah,  and  had  it  already  chosen  as  a  place  that  would 
suit  him  for  his  own  especial  use;  but  in  his  nomadic  life  it 
would  not  have  been  prudent  to  acquire  it  as  his  own  property 
many  years  before  he  had  need  for  it,  and  then  abandon  it  to  the 
use  of  others.  The  unexpected  death  of  Sarah,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Hebron  settled  the  question  as  to  the  place  of  burial,  and 
found  her  husband  not  yet  possessor  of  the  locality  which,  as  we 
suppose,  he  had  already  selected. 

The  story  is  extremely  interesting:  it  is  beautiful  in  its  sim- 
plicity, and  presents  to  us  a  vivid  picture  of  Oriental  usages  and 
customs,  which  we  shall  in  vain  seek  elsewhere,  unless  it  be  in 
the  arrangement  for  the  marriage  of  Ruth,  which  in  its  external 
circumstances,  greatly  resembles  this.  Ruth  4:  1 — 12.  This  con 
ference,  like  that,  took  place  in  the  gate  of  the  city  (vrs.  10,  18) 
where  all  public  and  much  private  business  was  transacted,  where 
the  judges  administered  justice,  and  persons  of  quality  sat  to  dis- 
cuss matters  of  general  interest.  See  ch.  19:  1  and  comments 
Going  therefore  to  the  gate  of  the  city,  Abraham  made  known  the 
purpose  of  his  coming, — that  of  acquiring  the  possession  of  a  bur 
ial-place  among  them,  in  order  to  bury  his  dead,  hiding  it  "out  of 
his  sight";  and  it  was  a  case  that  did  not  admit  of  delay.  The 
words  "bury  it  out  of  my  sight"  are  extremely  pathetic,  manifest- 
ing how  soon  that  which  we  most  esteem  in  life,  when  once  the 
vital  breath  departs,  is  turned  into  an  object  of  repugnance,  which 
we  need  to  hide  out  of  our  sight!  Humbling  confession,  but  in  a 
high  degree  salutary  for  us  mortal  sinners! 

The  reply  of  the  children  of  Heth  manifests  the  ascendancy 
which  this  great  man  everywhere  possessed,  in  Egypt,  in  Gerar, 
or  in  Hebron,  and  the  great  respect  with  which  he  was  every- 
where regarded — so  different  from  the  treatment  which  was 
accorded  to  his  son  Isaac,  and  also  to  Jacob.  "A  great  prince 
{Heb.  prince  of  God),  art  thou  in  the  midst  of  us."  They  told 
him  therefore  to  choose  at  his  pleasure,  and  bury  his  dead  in  the 
best  of  their  sepulchres.  But  this  was  not  all  in  conformity  with 
the  wishes  of  Abraham;  what  he  desired  was  the  possession  of  a 
burial-place  of  his  own,  for  himself  and  his  immediate  family. 
As  therefore  he  had  sat  down  after  speaking,  he  stood  up  again, 


268  GENESIS 

and  bowed  himself  before  the  people  of  the  land.  This  bowing 
before  the  children  of  Heth  was  in  token  of  profound  respect,  and 
of  the  esteem  in  which  he  held  the  generous  offer  that  had  been 
made  him.  In  the  same  way  Abraham  and  Lot  had  bowed  their 
faces  to  the  earth  before  the  heavenly  visitors,  in  the  belief  that 
they  were  no  more  than  distinguished  strangers.  Ch.  18:  2  and 
19:  1.  In  all  these  cases  the  Latin  Vulgate  says  adoravit,  which 
according  to  Salva  in  his  Latin-Spanish  Dictionary,  signifies  not 
only  to  "adore"  but  "to  salute  with  humility,"  and  to  "prostrate 
one's  self";  a  sense  which  the  word  "adore"  does  not  have  in 
Spanish  or  in  English;  and  yet  grave  Roman  Catholic  authors 
argue  that  if  Abraham  "adored"  the  sons  of  Heth,  how  much  more 
is  it  lawful  and  proper  to  "adore"  the  canonized  saints,  together 
with  their  images  and  relics?  But  the  real  argument  is  precisely 
the  reverse  of  this,  and  goes  to  prove  that  what  it  was  lawful  to 
do  with  men,  in  compliment  and  courtesy,  according  to  the 
usages  of  the  Orientals,  God  has  strictly  prohibited,  from  the 
moment  it  is  done  as  an  act  of  religious  worship:  "Thoii  shalt 
not  bow  down  thyself  to  them  nor  serve  them;  for  I,  Jehovah 
thy  God,  am  a  jealous  God"  (Ex.  20:  4,  5);  or  as  he  says  with 
equal  emphasis  by  the  mouth  of  Isaiah:  "I  am  Jehovah,  that  is 
my  name;  my  glory  will  I  not  give  to  another,  nor  my  praise  to 
graven  images."  Isa.  42:  8.  Most  remarkable  is  this  fact,  and 
worthy  of  ceaseless  remembrance,  that  the  act  which  is  lawful 
and  proper  as  a  social  courtesy,  God  holds  to  be  a  grievous  sin  the 
instant  it  is  done  in  worship  paid  to  any  beside  himself.  I  take 
off  my  hat  to  a  lady,  or  when  I  enter  a  church,  and  nobody  mis- 
understands me;  but  to  uncover  in  the  street,  or  to  incline  the 
body  before  an  image,  or  a  consecrated  wafer,  everybody  under- 
stands to  be  an  act  of  religious  worship.  Anybody,  however  sim- 
ple he  be,  can  distinguish  between  the  two  acts.  It  is  to  be  noted 
in  passing  that  the  Jews  ordinarily  prayed  to  God  standing  (Matt. 
6:5;  Mark.  11:  25;  Luke  18:  11,  13),  with  the  arms  crossed  on  the 
breast,  and  with  the  head  inclined,  or  the  upper  part  of  the  body 
bowed  toward  the  earth. 

23:  10 — 20.       ABRAHAM    BUYS    FOB    HIMSELF    THE    POSSESSION    OF    A 
BURIAL-PLACE  IN  THE  LAND  OF  PROMISE.      (1860  B.  C.) 

10  Now  Ephron  was  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  children  of  Heth: 
and  Ephron  the  Hittite  answered  Abraham  in  the  audience  of  the 
children  of  Heth,  even  of  all  that  went  in  at  the  gate  of  his  city, 
saying, 

11  Nay,  my  lord,  hear  me :  the  field  give  I  thee,  and  the  cave  that 
is  therein.'  I  give  thee :  in  the  presence  of  the  children  of  my  people 
give  I  it  thee :  bury  thy  dead. 


CHAPTER  23:  10—20  269 

12  And  Abraham  bowed  himself  down  before  the  people  of  the 
land. 

13  And  he  spake  unto  Ephron  in  the  audience  of  the  people  of 
the  land,  saying,  But  if  thou  wilt,  I  pray  thee,  hear  me :  I  will  give 
the  price  of  the  field ;  take  it  of  me,  and  I  will  bury  my  dead  there. 

14  And    Ephron   answered   Abraham,    saying    unto    him, 

15  My  lord,  hearken  unto  me :  a  piece  of  laud  worth  four  hun- 
dred shekels  of  silver,  what  is  that  betwixt  me  and  thee?  bury  there- 
fore thy  dead. 

10  And  Abraham  hearkened  unto  Ephron ;  and  Abraham  weighed 
to  Ephron  the  silver  which  he  had  named  in  the  audience  of  the 
children  of  Heth,  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  current  money  with 
the  merchant. 

17  So  the  field  of  Ephron,  which  was  in  Machpelah,  which  was 
before  Mamre,  the  field,  and  the  cave  which  was  therein,  and  all  the 
trees  that  were  in  the  field,  that  were  in  all  the  border  thereof  round 
about,  were  made  sure 

18  unto  Abraham  for  a  possession  in  the  presence  of  the  children 
of  Heth,  before  all  that  went  in  at  the  gate  of  his  city. 

19  And  after  this,  Abraham  buried  Sarah  his  wife  in  the  cave  of 
the  field  of  INIachpelah  before  Mamre  (the  same  is  Hebron),  in  the 
land  of  Canaan. 

20  And  the  field,  and  the  cave  that  is  therein,  were  made  sure  unto 
Abraham  for  a  possession  of  a  burying-place  by  the  children  of 
Heth. 

It  would  seem  that  Abraham,  absent  for  many  years  from 
Hebron,  did  not  by  sight  know  Ephron,  the  owner  of  the  land 
and  of  the  cave  which  he  desired  to  purchase;  or  if  he  knew  him, 
he  had  some  misgivings  as  to  his  willingness  to  agree  to  the 
transaction,  so  that  he  asked  those  present  to  intervene  in  the 
business,  in  order  to  induce  the  owner  to  sell  him  the  property 
at  its  full  value.  Ephron  was  then  sitting  in  the  midst  of  them, 
and  he  answered  for  himself,  taking  for  witnesses  all  those  who 
came  in  and  went  out  of  the  gate,  that  with  entire  good  will  he 
frankly  gave  him  the  field  and  the  cave;  and  that  Abraham  should 
proceed  to  bury  his  dead  without  further  delay.  This  bears  the 
appearance  of  great  magnanimity,  and  because  of  its  ostentation 
of  greatngss  of  soul,  this  style  of  thing  is  very  much  the  mode 
ajpong  the  Orientals  (and  among  some  Occidentals  as  well);  but 
alas  for  the  unfortunate  who  accepts  in  good  faith  this  class  of  of- 
fers! Abraham  well  understood  with  whom  he  was  dealing;  and 
bowing  himself  again,  in  acknowledgment  of  the  magnanimous 
words  of  Ephron,  he  insists  on  making  the  purchase  in  hard  cash; 
and,  knowing  as  he  did  the  usages  of  the  times  and  the  people,  he 
asks  as  a  favor  that  Ephron  will  accept  payment  for  the  property 
at  its  full  value;  and  then  he  would  bury  there  his  dead.  With 
the  same  affectation  of  magnanimity,  Ephron  names  the  price 
(wiii^h  it  may  be  understood  was  many  times  the  real  value  of  the 
land),  saying  "My  lord,  the  land  is  worth  400  shekels;  but  what 
is  that  between  me  and  thee?  Bury  thy  dead."  At  the  usual 
valuation  of  60  cents  a  shekel,  the  400  shekels  would  amount  to 


270  GENESIS 

?240  gold  of  our  money,  the  value  of  which  at  that  time  would 
be  five  or  ten  times  its  worth  today.  Considering  that  a  slave 
was  worth  thirty  shekels  ($18)  in  the  time  of  Moses  (Ex.  21: 
32),  and  that  in  the  days  of  the  Judges  the  salary  of  "a  father 
and  a  priest,"  who  offered  his  services  and  was  accepted,  amounted 
to  "ten  shekels  of  silver"  ($6)  by  the  year,  and  a  suit  of  apparel 
and  his  victuals  (Judg.  17:  10),  one  can  form  an  idea  of  the 
magnanimity  of  Ephron  who  affected  to  regard  as  an  insignificant 
sum  400  shekels  of  silver,  for  a  field  that  had  no  value  for  Abra- 
ham aside  from  the  cave  where  he  wished  to  lay  his  dead.  Well, 
very  well  will  it  be  for  our  evangelicals  to  learn  in  their  business 
and  in  all  their  social  relations  to  make  use  of  that  simplicity, 
sincerity  and  veracity  which  the  gospel  commends  and  teaches  us, 
and  which  comes  to  distinguish  all  the  nations  that  have  felt  its 
formative  Influence. 

Abraham  cheerfully  paid  the  money,  "current  money  with  the 
merchant,"  weighing  it  out  in  a  faithful  balance,  in  the  presence 
of  the  sons  of  Heth.  The  art  of  coining  money  it  seems  was  in- 
vented something  like  700  years  before  Christ,  though  it  was  not 
practiced  among  the  Jews  until  the  time  of  the  Maccabees.  Be- 
fore that,  purchases  were  made  by  weighing  in  the  balance  the 
gold  and  silver,  in  the  form  of  bars,  ingots,  or  jewels;  which 
was  extraordinarily  favorable  to  the  practice  of  dishonesty  in 
pecuniary  transactions,  and  gave  occasion  for  the  frequent 
denunciations  of  Holy  Writ  against  false  weights  and  bal- 
ances. 

In  the  time  of  Jeremiah  they  made  use  of  deeds  of  pur- 
chase, signed  and  sealed  in  the  presence  of  witnesses  (Jer. 
32:  9 — 15);  but  in  the  days  of  Abraham  eye-witnesses  accredited 
the  deed,  as  also  in  the  days  of  Boaz  and  Ruth  (Ruth  4:  7 — 11) ;. 
and  the  gate  of  the  city  was  the  place  where  all  such  trans- 
actions took  place.  According  to  the  usages  of  the  Orientals,  once 
the  cave  of  Machpelah  was  used  for  the  burial  of  Sarah,  it 
would  remain  inviolate  for  the  family  of  Abraham,  whether  he 
and  his  dwelt  in  Hebron,  in  Beersheba  or  in  Egypt.  Ch. 
49:  29—32. 

In  mountainous  and  hilly  countries,  caves,  in  addition  to  serv- 
ing as  habitations  for  the  living  (ch.  19:  30),  served  likewise 
as  places  of  sepulture  for  the  dead;  and  the  mouth  of  the  cave 
being  closed  with  great  stones,  for  defence  against  wild  animals, 
there  was  a  moral  certainty  that  no  hand  of  man  would  violate 
the  repose  of  their  mortal  remains.  Ordinarily,  and  according  to 
the  several  ability  of  the  proprietors,  they  were  cut  into  dif- 
ferent chambers,  with   galleries   and   niches,   where    (without  a 


CHAPTER  23:  10—20  271 

coffin)  were  deposited  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  without  being 
covered  with  earth.  As  this  cave  of  Machpelah  served  for  at 
least  three  generations,  it  is  evident  that  some  such  work  was 
done  there  after  the  burial  of  Sarah;  Jacob,  who  was  buried 
in  the  same  cave  (ch.  49:  29 — 32),  said  to  Joseph  in  Egypt, 
making  him  swear  to  its  faithful  performance:  "In  the  grave 
which  I  have  digged  (Heb.  cut)  for  me  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
there  shalt  thou  bury  me."  Ch.  50:  5.  But  it  is  clear  that 
Abraham  did  nothing  of  the  kind  before  he  buried  Sarah 
there. 

This  is  the  first  notice  we  have  in  the  Bible  of  the  holding 
of  real  estate,  and  its  manner  of  transfer  from  one  owner  to 
another;  and  it  is  interesting  from  many  points  of  view'.  Abraham 
claimed  the  right  of  property  in  the  well  which  he  had  dug 
in  Beersheba  in  the  open  pasture  lands;  and  he  took  measures 
to  prove  that  fact.  Ch.  21:  30.  Here,  he  to  whom  God  had 
given  the  whole  land,  without  giving  him  a  foot-breadth  of  it 
in  actual  possession,  bought  for  himself  the  possession  of  a 
burial-place  in  the  land  of  promise;  and  he  took  pains  to 
secure  it  by  all  the  formalities  known  in  that  day,  so  that  his 
title  should  remain  indisputable;  and  having  finished  all  these 
formalities,  he  buried  there  his  dead  wife. 

Peter  celebrates  the  virtues  of  Sarah,  and  sets  her  as  a  model 
for  the  imitation  of  Christian  women  (1  Pet.  3:  5,  6);  and  Paul 
celebrates  her  faith,  (Heb.  11:12);  but  though  a  faithful  and 
exemplary  wife,  and  doubtless  an  affectionate  mother,  she  seems, 
according  to  the  little  that  is  related  of  her,  to  have  been  im- 
patient of  God's  delay  to  fulfil  his  promises,  rash  and  inconsid- 
erate in  the  remedies  which  she  applied  to  meet  the  need, 
and  little  submissive  as  regards  the  consequences  of  her  error. 
It  was  natural  that  the  "princess"  (=  Sarah)  should  have  been 
proud;  it  is  certain  that  she  was  jealous  of  her  rival  Hagar,  and 
she  was  surely  imprudent.  On  the  former  occasion,  she  "mal- 
treated" Hagar,  so  that  she  fled  to  the  desert  (ch.  16:  6);  and 
the  word  maltreated  (Span.  Vers.),  implies  not  only  harsh 
treatment,  but  cruelty  as  well  {Heb.  afflicted); — it  is  the  word 
always  used  of  the  oppression  of  Israel  in  Egypt;  and  when  the 
last  offence  was  committed,  which  was  not  the  less  Hagar's  for 
being  the  act  of  her  son  (ch.  21:  9,  10),  Sarah's  demand:  "Cast 
out  this  slave  (  =  bondwoman)  and  her  son;  for  the  son 
of  this  slave  shall  not  be  heir  with  my  son,  with  Isaac!" — her 
demand  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  imperious,  as  well  as 
harsh.  Without  danger  of  mistake,  we  may  be  sure  that  the 
honored  wife  of  Abraham  was  not  as  amiable  as  she  was  beau- 


272  GENESIS 

tiful.  But  we  should  be  thankful  that  there  is  place  in  the 
kingdom  of  God  for  persons  of  every  different  form  of  natural 
disposition  and  temper. 

The  Hittites  are  mentioned  in  this  chapter  as  the  people  who 
occupied  Hebron.  The  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  monuments  speak 
of  the  Hittites  as  a  powerful  and  cultured  nation  which  for  long 
time  ruled  over  a  great  part  of  Canaan,  and  over  Syria  to 
the  north  of  it,  from  the  river  Orontes  as  far  as  Carchemish  on 
the  river  Euphrates.  From  Josh.  1:4,  it  would  appear  that 
the  land  in  general  from  Lebanon  to  the  river  Euphrates  on 
the  north,  and  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea  on  the  west,  was 
called  "all  the  land  of  the  Hittites";  which  corresponds  with 
what  those  monuments  say  of  the  power  and  dominion  of  the 
descendants  of  Heth,  the  second  son  of  Canaan. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

VRS.    1 — 9.      A    WIFE   IS    SOUGHT   FOR   ISAAC.       (1857    B.    C.) 

1  And  Abraham  was  old,  and  well  stricken  in  age  :  and  Jehovah 
had  blessed  Abraham  in  all  things. 

2  And  Abraham  said  unto  his  servant,  the  elder  of  his  house,  that 
ruled  over  all  that  he  had,  Put,  I  pray  thee,  thy  hand  under  my 
thigh : 

3  and  I  will  make  thee  swear  by  Jehovah,  the  God  of  heaven  and 
the  God  of  the  earth,  that  thou  wilt  not  take  a  wife  for  my  son  of 
the  daughters  of  the  Canaanites,  among  whom  I.  dwell : 

4  but  thou  shalt  go  unto  my  country,  and  to  my  kindred,  and  take 
a  wife  for  my  son  Isaac. 

5  And  the  servant  said  unto  him,  Peradventure  the  woman  will 
not  be  willing  to  follow  me  unto  this  land  :  must  I  needs  bring  thy  son 
again  unto  the  land  from  whence  thou  earnest? 

6  And  Abraham  said  unto  him.  Beware  thou  that  thou  bring  not 
my  son  thither  again. 

7  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Heaven,  who  took  me  from  my  father's 
house,  and  from  the  land  of  my  nativity,  and  who  spake  unto  me,  and 
who  sware  unto  me,  saying.  Unto  thy  seed  will  I  give  this  land ;  he 
will  send  his  angel  before  thee,  and  thou  shalt  take  a  wife  for  my 
son  from  thence. 

8  And  if  the  woman  be  not  willing  to  follow  thee,  then  thou  shalt 
be  clear  from  this  my  oath;  only  thou  shalt  not  bring  my  son  thither 
again. 

9  And  the  servant  put  his  hand  under  the  thigh  of  Abraham  his 
master,  and  sware  to  him  concerning  this  matter. 

The  solicitous  and  scrupulous  care  with  which  Abraham  sought 
a  wife  for  his  son  Isaac,  a  wife  whose  character  and  condition 
should  not  frustrate  the  great  purpose  of  his  calling  and  that 
of  his  posterity,  places  in  very  clear  light  the  mad  precipitancy, 
or  foolish  carelessness,  with  which  many  persons  who  make 
a  profession  of  piety,  enter  into  the  marriage  state,  and  the 
little  care  they  exercise  as  to  whether  the  woman  be  apt  or 
inapt  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  wife  and  mother.     Many   excellent 


CHAPTER  24:  1—9  273 

men,  and  even  some  who  excel  in  their  Christian  character 
and  personal  endowments,  and  even  many  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  have  done  themselves  enormous  injury,  and  sometimes 
have  reduced  their  character  and  influence  to  a  nullity,  by  means 
of  an  improper  or  ill-advised  marriage.  There  are  some  who 
do  not  use  as  much  intelligent  care  in  selecting  one  who  shall 
be  the  mother  of  their  children,  and  have  a  formative  and  de- 
cisive influence  in  their  character  and  destiny,  both  temporal 
and  eternal,  as  in  seeking  a  clerk  for  their  business  or  a  herds- 
man for  their  cattle. 

Not  so  Abraham.  Isaac  was  40  years  old.  His  mother  was 
dead,  and  Abraham  had  reliable  information  about  the  family 
of  his  brother  Nahor,  which  gave  promise  that  he  would  find 
in  his  family  the  companion  he  sought  for  his  son.  For  some 
years  past  the  name  of  Rebekah,  the  daughter  of  Bethuel,  the 
son  of  Nahor,  was  familiar  in  his  house.  Ch.  22:  23.  Abraham 
was  well  advanced  in  days,  and  the  recent  death  of  Sarah 
(three  years  before,  chs.  17:  17;  23:  1;  25:  20)  reminded  him 
of  the  uncertainty  of  his  own  life.  He  desired  therefore,  that 
Isaac  without  further  delay  should  marry.  He  sought  for  his 
son  a  wife  of  his  own  tribe,  who  should  have  no  relations  of 
friendship  or  kindred  with  the  idolatrous  Canaanites;  relations 
such  as  might  endanger  the  divine  purpose  which  had  separated 
him  from  the  idolatries  of  his  own  family,  75  years  before; 
a  woman  who  would  readily  comprehend  the  mission  of  his 
family,  and  cheerfully  lend  herself  to  its  fulfilment. 

Beautiful  women,  and  "of  good  family,"  there  were  among 
the  Canaanites,  who  from  any  worldly  point  of  view  were 
suitable  to  be  received  into  his  family,  and  whose  fathers  would 
esteem  it  a  great  honor  to  ally  themselves  with  a  great  prince 
like  Abraham;  and  from  the  difficulty  there  was  in  communicat- 
ing with  his  own  people,  it  would  be  easy  that,  through  a  fraudu- 
lent understanding  with  any  of  the  princes  of  Canaan,  some 
well-born  Hittite  or  Canaanite  woman  might  be  substituted 
for  a  woman  of  his  own  race.  But  what  a  calamity  this  would 
be  for  Isaac,  who  was  naturally  of  a  soft  and  yielding  dispo- 
sition! and  how  calamitous  for  the  hopes  of  the  entire  world, 
which  he  held  in  his  hands!  See  ch.  18:  18,  19.  Abraham 
did  not  wish,  therefore,  in  a  matter  of  such  transcendent  im- 
portance to  trust  merely  to  the  proved  integrity  of  his  steward, 
the  elder  of  his  house,  but  took  of  him  a  formal  and  solemn 
oath  that  he  would  not  deceive  him  in  this  commission  and  em- 
bassy. The  servant  saw  at  once  the  difficulties  of  his  commis- 
sion, and  he  evidently  knew  beforehand  that  it  was  not  the  will 


274  GENESIS 

of  Abraham  that  his  son  should  return  to  the  land  from  whence 
God  had  brought  him  out.  Fearing  therefore  the  oath  which 
was  demanded  of  him,  and  knowing  that  the  death  of  his 
master  was  possible  during  the  time  of  his  absence,  before 
giving  the  oath  which  was  aslved  he  inquired  whether,  in  case 
the  woman  should  refuse  to  follow  him  to  that  land,  unknown 
to  her,  he  should  carry  his  son  there.  Abraham  did  not  wish 
that  his  son  should  return  to  Haran;  for  the  very  reason  that 
he  had  not  himself  gone  back  to  visit  his  people,  because  con- 
trary to  the  express  terms  of  his  divine  calling.  He  therefore 
said  to  him  that  under  no  circumstances  whatsoever,  should 
he  do  so;  that  the  God  who  had  called  him,  and  had  intrusted 
to  his  hands  so  great  and  precious  promises,  would  send  his 
angel  before  him  and  would  arrange  it  all.  Great  faith  had 
Abraham  in  his  God;  and  the  ministry  of  angels,  and  in  par- 
ticular that  of  the  Angel- Jehovah  (see  ch.  48:  15,  16),  entered 
into  all  his  conceptions  of  God's  divine  providence;  and  the 
event  justified  this  supreme  con'fidence  of  his.  He  said  to 
him,  therefore,  that  he  would  be  free  from  that  oath,  if  he 
went  to  his  kindred  and  they  should  refuse  to  give  him  the 
woman  asked  for  (vr.  41) ;  but  always  under  the  condition  that 
he  should  in  no  case  carry  his  son  there. 

The  form  of  the  oath  which  Abraham  demanded  of  him  we  do 
not  find  to  be  used  on  any  other  occasion,  except  that  on  which 
Jacob  took  oath  of  his  son  Joseph  that  he  would  not  bury  him 
in  the  land  of  Egypt,  or  anywhere  else  than  the  land  given 
by  God  to  his  fathers.  Ch.  47:  29—41.  The  form,  doubtless, 
had  to  do  with  the  covenant  of  circumcision  and  its  seal,  in 
both  cases;  as  though  he  had  in  view  the  promise  of  that  land 
which  the  patriarchs  were  unwilling  to  abandon  either  in  life  or 
in  death.  This  scruple  being  removed,  the  steward  took  the  oath 
in  the  form  required. 

[Note  23. — On  ''the  Elder."  Here,  for  the  first  time  in  the 
Old  Testament,  we  meet  with  the  "Elder"  as  an  official  title. 
The  translation  given  in  the  old  Versions  (including  the  A.  V.  Eng- 
lish), "his  eldest  servant  of  his  house,"  is  undoubtedly  incorrect. 
Abraham's  steward  was  a  vigorous,  active,  enterprising  and  most 
capable  man,  who  was  neither  "old"  nor  still  less  "the  oldest 
of  his  house";  and  with  the  best  of  cause  the  Revision  translates 
it  "the  elder  of  his  house,  that  ruled  over  all  that  he  had."  It 
is  a  fact,  which  should  never  be  lost  sight  of,  that  in  the  Old 
Testament,  the  government  of  the  people,  both  civil  and  re- 
ligious, was  in  the  hands,  not  of  the  priests,  but  of  the  "elders" 
appointed  for  that  purpose;   and  it  would  seem  that  this  form 


CHAPTER  24:  10—27  275 

of  popular  government  was  general  in  the  surrounding  nations; 
for  we  read  of  "the  elders  of  the  house  of  Pharaoh,"  "the  elders 
of  Egypt,"  "the  elders  of  Moab,"  "the  elders  of  Midian,"  etc. 
Ch.  50:  7;  Num.  22:  4 — 7.  It  is  important  to  remember  alw&ys 
that  neither  in  the  Old  Testament  nor  in  the  times  of  the  New 
Testament  were  Jewish  priests  the  governors  of  the  people; 
but  on  the  contrary,  "the  elders  of  the  people,"  "the  elders  of 
Israel,"  "the  elders  of  the  city,"  "the  elders  of  Gilead,"  "the  elders 
of  Jabesh,"  etc., — not  one,  but  a  plurality  of  elders — were  always 
the  immediate  rulers  of  the  people,  including  the  government 
of  the  synagogue.  "The  elders  of  the  people"  represented  and 
governed  them  even  in  the  midst  of  the  slavery  of  Egypt.  Ex. 
3:  16 — 18.  This  is  a  clear  indication  that  popular  government 
derives  its  origin  from  very  ancient  times,  and  even  under 
despotic  kings,  "the  elders  of  the  people,"  or  "the  elders  of 
the  city,"  served  as  some  manner  of  check  upon  the  arbitrary 
proceedings  of  the  throne.  1  Kings  21:  8,  11.  And  when  in 
the  New  Testament  we  pass  from  the  civil  State  to  the  Syna- 
gogue, and  from  the  Synagogue  to  the  Church,  we  observe  the 
same  fact,  to  wit,  popular  government,  by  means  of  elders  or 
presbyters.  Acts  14:  23;  Tit.  1:  15.  Only  in  the  Roman  church, 
ever  since  they  cast  down  every  divine  institution  which  they 
have  not  been  able  to  turn  to  the  account  of  their  own  narrow 
and  selfish  purposes,  has  the  priest  been  elevated  above  the 
civil  power,  as  the  supreme  government;  and  "the  elder,"  or 
presbyter,  they  have  turned  into  a  "priest";  in  order  that  free 
and  popular  government  may  be  forever  destroyed.] 

24:  10 — 27.     Abraham's  steward  sets  out  for  Mesopotamia,  to 
haran,  the  city  of  nahor.    the  meeting  with  rebekah.     (1857 

B.    C.) 

10  And  the  servant  took  ten  camels,  of  the  camels  of  his  master, 
and  doparted,  having  all  goodly  things  of  his  master's  in  his  hand: 
and  ho  arose,  and  went  to  Mesopotamia,  unto  the  city  of  Nahor. 

11  And  he  made  the  camels  to  kneel  down  without  the  city  by 
the  well  of  water  at  the  time  of  evening,  the  time  that  women  go  out 
to  draw  water. 

12  And  he  said,  O  Jehovah,  the  God  of  my  master  Abraham,  send 
me,  I  pray  thee,  good  speed  this  day,  and  show  kindness  unto  my 
master  Abraham. 

13  Behold,  I  am  standing  by  the  fountain  of  water ;  and  the 
daughters  of  the  men  of  the  city  are  coming  out  to  draw  water : 

14  and  let  it  come  to  pass,  that  the  damsel  to  whom  I  shall  say. 
Let  down  thy  pitcher.  I  pray  tbee,  that  I  may  drink  ;  and  she  shall 
say,  Drink,  and  I  will  give  thy  camels  drink  also:  let  the  snme  be 
she  that  thou  hast  appointed  for  thy  servant  Isaac ;  and  thereby  shall 
I  know  that  thou  hast  showed  kindness  unto  my  master. 

15  And  it  came  to  pass,  before  he  had  done  speaking,  that,  be- 
hold, Rebekah  came  out,  who  was  born  to  Bethuel  the  son  of  Milcah, 


276  GENESIS 

the  wife  of  Nahor,  Abraham's  brother,  with   her  pitcher  upon  her 
shoulder. 

16  And  the  damsel  was  very  fair  to  look  upon,  a  virgin,  neither 
had  any  man  known  her :  and  she  went  down  to  the  fountain,  and 
filled  her  pitcher,  and  came  up. 

17  And  the  servant  ran  to  meet  her,  and  said,  Give  me  to  drink, 
I  pray  thee,  a  little  water  from  thy  pitcher. 

18  And  she  said,  Drink,  my  lord  :  and  she  hasted,  and  let  down 
her  pitcher  upon  her  hand,  and  gave  him  drink. 

19  And  when  she  had  done  giving  him  drink,  she  said,  I  will  draw 
for  thy  camels  also,  until  they  have  done  drinking. 

20  And  she  hasted,  and  emptied  her  pitcher  into  the  trough,  and 
ran  again  unto  the  well  to  draw,  and  drew  for  all  his  camels, 

21  And  the  man  looked  steadfastly  on  her,  holding  his  peace,  to 
know  wliether  Jehovah  had  made  his  journey  prosperous  or  not. 

22  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  the  camels  had  done  drinking,  that  the 
man  took  a  golden  ring  of  half  a  shekel  weight,  and  two  bracelets  for 
her  hands  of  ten  shekels  weight  of  gold, 

23  and  said.  Whose  daughter  art  thou?  tell  me,  I  pray  thee.  Is 
there  room  in  thy  father's  house  for  us  to  lodge  in? 

24  And  she  said  unto  him,  I  am  the  daughter  of  Bethuel  the  son 
of  IMilcnh,  whom  she  bare  unto   Nahor. 

25  She  said  morever  unto  him.  We  have  both  straw  and  provender 
enough,  and  room  to  lodge  in. 

26  And  the  man  bowed  his  head,  and  worshipped  Jehovah. 

27  And  he  said.  Blessed  be  Jehovah,  the  God  of  my  master  Abra- 
ham, who  hath  not  forsaken  his  lovingkindness  and  his  truth  toward 
my  master  :  as  for  me,  Jehovah  hath  led  me  in  the  way  to  the  house 
of  my  master's  brethren. 

Abraham  bound  his  steward  with  a  solemn  oath  that  he  would 
not  betray  his  confidence  in  so  important  a  matter;  but  who 
was  to  answer  for  it  that  he  did  not  betray  the  confidence  of 
the  woman  and  her  family?  In  order  that  on  this  side  there 
should  be  no  lack  of  complete  security,  Abraham  ordered  his 
steward  to  take  ten  camels  of  the  camels  of  his  master,  laden 
with  the  choicest  of  his  goods  and  possessions;  and  this  would 
serve  both  as  a  dowry,  and  also  as  a  guaranty  that  he  was 
really  the  servant  of  Abraham. 

The  journey  of  500  miles  is  described  in  a  single  line:  "And 
he  arose  and  went  to  Mesopotamia,  unto  the  city  of  Nahor." 
Arriving  there  at  the  close  of  day,  he  made  his  camels  to 
kneel  down,  and  waited  beside  the  well,  from  whence  all  the 
city,  and  probably  all  the  cattle  of  the  surrounding  district  were 
supplied  with  water  (ch.  29:2,  3);  and  he  raised  his  heart 
to  God  in  prayer,  that,  at  that  hour,  when  the  daughters  of  the 
men  of  the  city  were  coming  forth  to  draw  w^ater,  the  God 
of  his  master  Abraham,  would  designate  to  him,  then  and  there, 
which  among  them  he  had  appointed  for  his  servant  Isaac.  This 
spring  of  waters  is  twice  called  a  "well"  in  this  chapter,  and 
seven  times  it  is  called  a  "fountain";  and  in  vr.  16  we  are 
told  that  Rebekah  "went  down  to  the  fountain  and  filled  her 
pitcher,    and    came    up";    all    which    seems    to    indicate   that    it 


CHAPTER  24:  10—27  277 

was  in  fact  a  spring  of  waters,  which  they  had  deepened,  leav- 
ing steps  to  go  down  and  come  up  on  them;  differing  in  this 
from  the  well,  so  called,  from  which  the  water  is  drawn  with 
a  rope.  The  servant,  doubtless  carried  with  him,  on  so  long 
a  journey,  the  means  of  drawing  water  in  case  of  need,  and 
his  men  were  as  capable  of  going  down  and  up  the  steps  as 
was  Rebekah;  it  appears,  therefore,  either  that  he  had  only 
just  arrived,  or  that  it  was  his  fine  device,  and  not  his  necessity, 
which  led  him  to  ask  water  of  the  first  young  woman  who 
came.  And  Rebekah  must  have  been  the  first;  for  before  he 
had  done  offering  his  petition  (not  audibly,  but  "in  his  heart," 
vr.  45),  Rebekah  presented  herself  and  fulfilled  to  the  letter 
what  he  had  thought  out  as  an  excellent  means  of  resolving 
his  doubts.  The  sign  thus  devised,  asked,  and  performed,  was 
most  excellent  from  another  point  of  view,  since  it  indicated 
that  the  young  woman  who  was  to  be  his  new  mistress,  was 
courteous,  amiable  and  obliging;  so  that  the  servant  asked  a 
good  mistress  for  himself,  a  good  wife  for  Isaac,  and  a  divine 
election  and  designation,  all  in  one  breath.  A  good  lesson  is 
this  in  favor  of  courtesy  and  politeness  in  our  deportment, 
whether  with  persons  known  or  unknown.  How  much  did  Re- 
bekah gain  for  herself  that  day,  from  being  attentive  and  oblig- 
ing to  strangers! 

The  family  of  Bethuel  was  in  moderate  circumstances.  The 
twelve  sons  of  his  father  Nahor  (ch.  22:  20 — 24),  must  have 
reduced  to  very  little  the  part  of  the  family  estate  which  fell 
to  each  one  in  particular.  The  circumstance  that  Rebekah,  a 
beautiful  young  woman,  should  go  forth  to  draw  water,  suggests 
it,  but  does  not  prove  it;  for  they  had  servants  for  other  work 
(vr.  61),  and  it  seems  that  it  was  the  custom  of  the  town  "for 
the  daughters  of  the  men  of  the  city  to  go  forth  to  draw 
water"  at  that  hour, — women  of  the  highest  respectability,  among 
whom  the  servant  of  Abraham  thought  he  would  find  a  wUe 
worthy  of  the  son  of  Abraham.  But  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain 
from  indications  given,  Bethuel  had  no  other  children  than 
Rebekah  and  her  brother  Laban,  who  after  the  departure  of 
Rebekah,  inherited  the  whole  estate  of  his  father;  notwith- 
standing which,  he  was  a  poor  man  when  Jacob,  the  son  of 
Rebekah,  took  charge  of  his  flocks,  90  or  95  years  afterwards, 
and  God  commenced  to  bless  him  by  the  management  of  his 
nephew.  Ch.  30:  30.  From  all  which  we  infer  with  certainty 
that  the  arrival  of  such  an  embassy  in  search  of  a  wife  for 
the  son  and  heir  of  the  rich  and  powerful  prince  Abraham, 
could   not   fail   to   produce   a   very   deep   impression   upon   the 


278  GENESIS 

familj%  and  among  all  the  people  of  the  town.  This  device 
of  proposing  some  particular  sign  by  which  to  ascertain  the 
will  of  God,  is  of  very  old  use  and  abuse  in  the  world;  of 
which  this  is  the  first  instance  we  find  in  the  Bible.  The  same 
usage  would  seem  to  be  as  common  today  as  in  Bible  times. 
Gideon  betook  himself  twice  to  this  expedient  for  dispelling 
his  doubts  (Judg.  6:17,  37);  but  it  is  very  ill-advised,  in  our 
day,  to  leave  the  practical  and  important  decisions  of  life  to 
the  arbitrament  of  signs  of  this  kind;  and  very  grievous  errors 
arise  from  accrediting  God  with  the  outcome  of  such  tests. 
With  the  book  of  God  for  our  teaching,  with  his  providence 
and  Spirit  for  our  guide,  and  with  the  throne  of  the  heavenly 
grace  always  accessible  through  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  as  useful 
as  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  hear  the  responsibility  of  our  own 
decisions,  in  the  doubtful  and  difficult  cases  of  life;  and  God 
wishes  thus  to  form  in  his  sons  and  daughters  that  robustness 
and  firmness  of  character  which  is  always  lacking  in  those  who 
govern  their  actions  by  the  supposed  signs  of  good  or  evil 
fortune,  or  who  leave  the  resolution  of  their  doubts  and  scruples 
in  the  hands  of  some  confessor  or  spiritual  guide,  who  pretends  to 
act  for  them  in  God's  stead;  contrary  to  the  express  command  of 
Christ.     Matt.  23:  9,  10. 

The  steward,  surprised  and  even  amazed  at  the  so  prompt 
and  exact  fulfilment  of  the  sign  which  he  had  asked  of  the 
God  of  his  master  Abraham,  fastened  his  eyes  upon  Rebekah, 
with  admiration  and  rejoicing;  yet,  like  a  prudent  man,  he 
waited  to  assure  himself  more  completely  of  the  fact.  But 
when  he  learned  from  her  own  mouth  that  she  was  that 
Rebekah,  the  daughter  of  Bethuel,  the  son  of  Nahor,  of  whom 
they  had  personal  knowledge  in  the  house  of  his  master,  even 
before  the  death  of  Sarah,  and  whose  name  was  a  familiar  word 
there,  he  broke  forth  in  blessings  upon  Jehovah,  the  God  of 
his  master  Abraham,  who  had  led  him  by  a  straight  way  to  the 
house  of  the  brethren  of  his  master.  He  therefore  placed  a 
golden  ring  in  her  nostril  and  bracelets  upon  her  hand  (vr.  47) ; 
and  she,  without  waiting  for  anything  further,  ran  to  carry 
the  unexpected  tidings  to  the  "house  of  her  mother"  (vr.  28) : 
the  servant  had  naturally  asked  after  the  "house  of  her  father." 
Vr.  23.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  he  did  not  put  two  rings  in 
her  ears,  but  one  ring,  or  nose-jewel,  in  her  nostril.  This  offends 
our  taste;  but  such  was  and  still  is  the  usage  of  the  women  of 
the  Orient. 


CHAPTER  24:  28—33  279 

24:  28 — 33.    laban  and  Abraham's  steward.     (1857  b.  c.) 

28  And  the  damsel  ran,  and  told  her  mother's  house  according  to 
these  words. 

29  And  Rebekah  had  a  brother,  and  his  name  was  Laban :  and 
Laban  ran  out  unto  the  man,  unto  the  fountain. 

30  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  saw  the  ring,  and  the  bracelets 
upon  his  sister's  hands,  and  when  he  heard  the  words  of  Rebekah 
his  sister,  saying.  Thus  spake  the  man  unto  me ;  that  he  came  unto 
the  man ;  and,  behold,  he  was  standing  by  the  camels  at  the  foun- 
tain. 

31  And  he  said.  Come  in,  thou  blessed  of  Jehovah ;  wherefore 
standest  thou  without?  for  I  have  prepared  the  house,  and  room  for 
the  camels. 

32  And  the  man  came  into  the  house,  and  he  ungirded  the  camels ; 
and  he  gave  straw  and  provender  for  the  camels,  and  water  to  wash 
his  feet  and  the  feet  of  the  men  that  were  with  him. 

33  And  there  was  set  food  before  him  to  eat :  but  he  said,  I  will 
not  eat,  until  I  have  told  mine  errand.     And  he  said.  Speak  on. 

It  would  seem  that  Bethuel  had  no  other  children  but  Laban 
and  Rebekah;  and  when  she  heard  the  pious  ejaculations  of 
praise  to  Jehovah,  the  God  of  his  master  Abraham,  which  his 
steward  uttered,  on  seeing  his  desires  and  prayers  so  wonderfully 
fulfilled  and  so  instantaneously,  she  ran  and  told  the  news  in 
the  "house  of  her  mother."  Laban  on  hearing  it,  set  out  to 
run,  and  the  sight  of  the  jewels  of  gold  which  he  saw  on  the 
person  of  his  sister,  lent  wings  to  his  feet.  In  this  short 
paragraph  we  have  a  living  and  breathing  portraiture  of  Laban, 
such  as  he  appears  without  disguise  in  the  history  of  Jacob:  — 
selfish,  covetous  of  gold,  sagacious,  astute,  a  noisy  boaster,  and 
unscrupulous  as  to  the  means  of  gaining  his  ends.  It  is  evident 
that  Bethuel,  whether  from  natural  deficiency,  or  from  dotage, 
amounted  to  little  or  nothing,  and  nobody  made  any  account 
of  him.  In  vr.  28,  it  is  said  that  although  the  servant  asked 
as  to  the  house  of  her  father  (vr.  23),  Rebekah  related  the 
incident  of  the  well  in  the  house  of  her  mother;  and  in  the 
whole  chapter  Bethuel  passes  for  nothing  but  the  father  of 
Rebekah;  and  even  when  in  vr.  50,  we  are  told  that  he  did  say 
something,  he  is  mentioned  after  Laban,  and  only  as  concurring 
in  what  he  had  said.  In  the  rest  of  the  story  he  is  not  even 
mentioned,  but  Laban  and  his  mother  do  everything.  Laban 
is  the  great  man  who  takes  charge  of  the  whole  business.  On 
hearing,  therefore,  the  message  of  his  sister,  and  seeing  on  her 
person  the  jewels  of  gold,  he  runs  to  the  well  where  the  man 
was  still  standing,  and  says  to  him:  "I  have  prepared  the  house 
and  room  for  the  camels,"  without  having  done  anything  at 
all;  and  although  he  repudiated  Jehovah,  the  new  God  of 
Abraham  (see  ch.  31:  29,  30,  42,  53),  with  open  mouth  he  salutes 
in  his  name  the  servant  of  Abraham,  standing  there  beside  the 


280  GENESIS 

fountain:  "Come  in  thou  blessed  of  Jehovah!  wherefore  standest 
thou  without?  for  I  have  prepared  the  house  and  room  for  the 
camels."  He  made  himself  busy  in  bringing  straw  and  forage 
for  the  camels,  and  water  to  wash  the  feet  of  the  whole  party; 
for  it  seems  that  the  sight  of  the  gold,  and  the  hope  of  material 
profit,  moved  the  innermost  fibres  of  his  sordid  heart,  and 
set  in  action  the  most  powerful  springs  of  his  being;  as  we 
shall  see  farther  on,  in  chapters  29,  30  and  31. 

When  they  had  come  to  the  house,  and  the  camels  were  un- 
loaded and  cared  for,  and  the  feet  of  the  travellers  were  washed, 
they  set  food  before  them;  but  the  steward,  diligent  in  every- 
thing, the  model  of  a  faithful  servant,  refused  to  eat  until 
he  had  made  known  the  business  upon  which  he  had  come. 

24:  34 — 49.     Abraham's   steward   makes   known   his   business. 
(1857  B.  c.) 

34  And  he  said,  I  am  Abraham's  servant. 

35  And  Jehovah  hath  blessed  my  master  greatly ;  and  he  is  become 
great :  and  he  hath  given  him  flocks  and  herds,  and  silver  and  gold, 
and  men-servants  and  maid-servants,  and  camels  and  asses. 

36  And  Sarah  my  master's  wife  bare  a  son  to  my  master  when  she 
was  old  :  and  unto  him  hath  he  given  all  that  he  hath. 

37  And  my  master  made  me  swear,  saying,  Thou  shalt  not  take 
a  wife  for  my  son  of  the  daughters  of  the  Canaanites,  in  whose  land 
I  dwell: 

38  but  thou  shalt  go  unto  my  father's  house,  and  to  my  kindred, 
and  take  a  wife  for  my  son. 

39  And  I  said  unto  my  master,  Peradventure  the  woman  will  not 
follow  me. 

40  And  he  said  unto  me,  Jehovah,  before  whom  I  walk,  will  send 
his  angel  with  thee,  and  prosper  thy  way ;  and  thou  shalt  take  a  wife 
for  my  son  of  my  kindred,  and  of  my  father's  house : 

41  then  shalt  thou  be  clear  from  my  oath,  when  thou  comest  to 
my  kindred ;  and  if  they  give  her  not  to  thee,  thou  shalt  be  clear  from 
my  oath. 

42  And  I  came  this  day  unto  the  fountain,  and  said,  O  Jehovah, 
the  God  of  my  master  Abraham,  if  now  thou  do  prosper  my  way 
which  I  go : 

43  behold,  I  am  standing  by  the  fountain  of  water ;  and  let  it 
come  to  pass,  that  the  maiden  that  cometh  forth  to  draw,  to  whom  I 
shall  say.  Give  me,  I  pray  thee,  a  little  water  from  thy  pitcher  to 
drink ; 

44  and  she  shall  say  to  me,  Both  drink  thou,  and  I  will  also  draw 
for  thy  camels :  let  the  same  be  the  woman  whom  Jehovah  hath  ap- 
pointed for  my  master's  son. 

45  And  before  I  had  done  speaking  in  my  heart,  behold,  Rebekah 
came  forth  with  her  pitcher  on  her  shoulder ;  and  she  went  down 
unto  the  fountain,  and  drew :  and  I  said  unto  her.  Let  me  drink,  I 
pray  thee. 

46  And  she  made  haste,  and  let  down  her  pitcher  from  her 
shoulder,  and  said,  Drink,  and  I  will  give  thy  camels  drink  also :  so  I 
drank,  and  she  made  the  camels  drink  also. 

47  And  I  asked  her,  and  said.  Whose  daughter  art  thou?  And  she 
said.  The  daughter  of  Bethuel,  Nahor's  son,  whom  Milcah  bare  unto 
him :  and  I  put  the  ring  upon  her  nose,  and  the  bracelets  upon  her 
hands. 


CHAPTER  24:  34—39  281 

48  And  I  bowed  my  head,  and  worshipped  Jehovah,  and  blessed 
Jehovah,  the  God  of  my  master  Abraham,  wlio  had  led  me  in  the 
right  way  to  take  my  master's  brother's  daughter  for  his  son. 

49  And  now  if  ye  will  deal  kindly  and  truly  with  my  master,  tell 
me  :  and  if  not,  tell  me ;  that  I  may  turn  to  the  right  hand,  or  to  the 
left. 

The  paragraph  does  not  call  for  explanations  or  comments; 
it  is  a  relation  in  extenso  of  what  has  already  been  said,  which 
Abraham's  steward  makes  in  order  that  Rebekah  and  her  family 
might  see  the  surprising  way  in  which  God  had  brought  him, 
in  his  performance  of  the  commission  which  his  master  had 
given  him;  and  then  he  leaves  them  to  determine  for  them- 
selves whether  or  not  it  would  suit  them  to  comply  with  the 
request  that  Rebekah  should  become  the  wife  of  his  master 
Isaac.  In  ch.  25:  5,  that  is  related  as  history  which  the  servant 
of  Abraham  here  declares  in  the  way  of  information,  regarding 
the  immense  estate  of  his  master;  viz,  that  Abraham  had  given 
everything  to  Isaac,  for  whom  he  asked  the  hand  of  Rebekah. 
It  is  probable  that  to  the  seven  sons  of  his  two  concubines 
he  had  already  given  rich  portions,  such  as  was  suitable  to  them 
as  his  sons,  and  had  sent  them  far  away  from  Isaac,  previous 
to  his  marriage;  so  that  the  servant  might  well  say  that 
Abraham  had  given  his  whole  estate  to  Isaac.  See  comments  on 
ch.  25:  1 — 4,  5,  6,  where  will  be  given  conclusive  reasons  for 
believing  that  Abraham  took  to  wife  Keturah,  not  only  before 
the  death  of  Sarah,  but  before  the  birth  of  Isaac;  so  that  long 
before  the  marriage  of  Isaac,  at  forty  years  of  age,  all  his 
half-brothers  had  received  their  portions  and  had  removed  from 
the  encampment.  It  is  the  usage  of  the  Bible  to  make  what  is 
said  in  one  part  supplement,  or  limit,  what  is  said  about  the 
same  matter  in  another, — an  important  rule  for  us  to  observe  in 
our  interpretations  of  Scripture.  The  steward  in  effect  tells 
Rebekah  and  her  family  that  the  brother  of  Nahor  had  been 
greatly  prospered  by  the  blessing  of  Jehovah,  his  new  God; 
so  that  he  was  exceedingly  rich  in  flocks  and  herds,  in  silver 
and  gold,  in  men-servants  and  maid-servants,  in  camels  and  asses; 
and  that  Isaac,  the  son  of  his  old  age,  by  Sarah,  his  own  proper 
wife,  was  his  only  heir.  This  would  be  very  true,  even  if 
Abraham  gave  portions  to  the  seven  sons  of  his  concubines  after 
this;  but  more  strikingly  true  if  it  were  so  that  they,  being  older 
than  Isaac,  had  already  received  the  share  of  their  father's  goods 
and  chattels  which  was  coming  to  them,  and  had  been  sent 
away  towards  the  east  country  before  the  marriage  of  Isaac. 
Having  set  forth  thus  fully  the  subject,  he  left  the  question 
to  their  decision,  asking  only  that  they  would  make  it  directly 


282  GENESIS 

and  without  delay,  simply  and  decisively;  in  order  that  in  case 
they  did  not  accede  to  his  request,  he  might  at  once  "turn  to  the 
right  or  the  left";  that  is  to  say,  apply  to  the  other  sons  of  Nahor 
for  the  same  purpose. 

24:  50 — 53.    laban  and  his  father  bethxjel  grant  the  request 
or  THE  steward.     (1857  b.  c.) 

50  Then  Laban  and  Bethuel  answered  and  said,  The  thing  pro- 
ceedeth  from  Jehovah:  we  cannot  speak  unto  thee  bad  or  good. 

51  Behold,  Rebekah  is  before  thee,  take  her,  and  go,  and  let  her 
be  thy  master's  son's  wife,  as  Jehovah  hath  spoken. 

52  And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  when  Abraham's  servant  heard  their 
words,  be  bowed  himself  down  to  the  earth  unto  Jehovah. 

53  And  the  servant  brought  forth  jewels  of  silver,  and  jewels  of 
gold,  and  raiment,  and  gave  them  to  Rebekah  :  he  gave  also  to  her 
brother  and  to  her  mother  precious  things. 

In  all  this  matter  Laban  acts  the  part  of  the  great  man,  and 
Bethuel,  the  father  of  the  young  woman,  is  almost  a  nullity. 
This  is  the  reason  why  Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian,  supposes 
that  Bethuel,  the  father  of  Rebekah  and  Laban,  had  died  several 
years  before,  and  that  the  Bethuel  of  verse  50,  was  a  younger 
brother  of  Rebekah  and  of  Laban; — a  supposition  adopted  by 
some  commentators.  But  there  is  not  the  remotest  suggestion 
of  such  a  thing  in  the  text,  or  in  any  other  part  of  the  Bible. 
On  the  contrary,  vrs.  50,  53  treat  of  Laban  as  the  only  brother 
of  Rebekah,  to  whom,  together  with  herself  and  her  mother, 
the  servant  of  Abraham  made  gifts  of  precious  things,  but 
without  making  account  of  any  other  brother,  or  of  the  father; 
and  it  is  to  be  observed  also,  that  when  the  servant  of  Abraham 
asked  Rebekah  if  there  was  place  for  them  "in  the  house  of  her 
father,"  she  replied  that  there  was;  without  giving  any  intimation 
that  she  no  longer  had  a  father. 

The  formal  presentation  of  his  cause  which  the  servant  of 
Abraham  had  made,  had  the  desired  effect;  and  at  once  Laban 
declared  (in  which  his  father  Bethuel  concurred),  that  the 
whole  business  was  from  Jehovah,  whose  will  it  did  not  be- 
come them  to  oppose:  and  they  at  once  disposed  .of  the  person 
of  Rebekah,  without  even  consulting  her.  This  was  and  still 
is  the  manner  of  the  Orientals  in  disposing  of  their  women,  who 
in  this  matter  conform  to  the  will  of  their  fathers,  who  have, 
as  they  are  told,  the  right  to  dispose  of  them.  In  fact, 
just  as  happens  among  pagan  nations  today,  the  suitor  paid 
the  dowry  of  the  woman  to  her  father  and  her  family.  Abraham 
understood  this  very  well  when  he  sent  ten  camels  loaded  with 
the  most  precious  things  he  had,  in  part  as  gifts  to  the  young 
woman,  but  a  great  part  of  it  would  go  as  her  dowry,  and  be 


CHAPTER  24:  54—61  283 

paid  to  the  family;  a  point  about  which  there  would  be  no  dispute 
in  a  case  like  this,  where  gifts  were  so  many  and  so  rich.  Jacob 
paid  the  dowry  of  his  beloved  Rachel  with  seven  years  of  per- 
sonal labor,  and  the  villain  Laban,  by  means  of  a  cruel  de- 
ception, appropriated  this  as  the  dowry  of  Leah,  whom  Jacob 
neither  asked  for  nor  loved,  and  obliged  him  to  bind  himself  for 
seven  other  years  of  service,  before  he  could  gain  possession 
of  Rachel;  of  all  which  dowry  they  two  received  no  part  what- 
ever: see  ch.  31:  15,  41,  And  young  Shechem,  enamored  of 
Dinah,  the  daughter  of  Jacob,  said  to  him  and  to  his  sons:  "Ask 
me  never  so  much  dowry  and  gifts,  and  I  will  give  according  as 
ye  shall  say  unto  me;  but  give  me  the  damsel  to  wife!" 
Ch.  34:  12.  And  yet,  as  they  left  it  entirely  to  the  will  of 
Rebekah,  whether  or  not  she  would  go  at  once  with  the  servant 
of  Abraham,  as  he  asked,  it  is  probable  that  on  acceding  without 
delay  to  the  servant's  petition,  they  saw  very  clearly  that  the 
engagement  would  be  altogether  in  accord  with  her  own  wishes. 
On  hearing  so  grateful  intelligence  from  the  mouth  of  Laban 
and  Bethuel,  and  on  seeing  the  business  which  had  brought 
him  so  promptly  concluded,  and  so  much  to  his  satisfaction,  the 
servant  of  Abraham  prostrated  himself  to  the  earth  before 
Jehovah,  in  the  attitude  of  adoring  thankfulness  and  worship. 
The  circumstance  that  there  was  there  neither  altar,  nor  sac- 
rifice, nor  vision,  nor  any  other  manifestation  of  the  presence 
of  God,  gives  to  us  the  unchallengeable  and  most  precious  evidence 
that  even  in  those  remote  times,  the  pious  servants  of  God 
recognized  his  presence  in  every  place,  and  "worshipped  him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth"; — a  point  on  which  Jesus  insists  that  it 
is,  it  will  be,  and  always  has  been  indispensable,  in  order  that  our 
worship  may  be  pleasing  to  God.     John  4:  24. 

The  subject  being  thus  happily  concluded,  "the  servant  brought 
forth  jewels  of  silver  and  jewels  of  gold,  and  raiment,  and 
gave  them  to  Rebekah;  he  gave  also  precious  things  to  her 
brother  and  to  her  mother," — and  all  this  before  he  would  sit 
down  to  eat!  Happy  Abraham  in  having  so  faithful  and  zealous 
a  steward!  Bethuel  was  undoubtedly  in  his  dotage,  or  in  some 
way  lacking  in  judgment  and  weight  of  character,  for  them  to 
make  so  little  account  of  him;  because  it  was  to  the  father,  first 
of  all,  that  the  dowry  of  his  daughters  belonged.    Ex.  22:  17. 

24:  54 — 61.     the   faithful   and   assiduous    steward,     bebekah 
consents  to  go  at  once;  and  in  fact  she  goes,  together  with 
her  maidens.     (1857  b.  c.) 
54    And  they  did  eat  and  drink,  he  and  the  men  that  were  with 


284  GENESIS 

him,  and  tarried  all  night;  and  they  rose  up  in  the  morning,  and  he 
said,  Send  me  away  unto  my  master. 

55  And  her  brother  and  her  mother  said.  Let  the  damsel  abide 
with  us  a  few  days,  at  the  least  ten  ;  after  that  she  shall  go. 

5G  And  he  said  unto  them.  Hinder  me  not,  seeing  Jehovah  hath 
prospered  my  way ;  send  me  away  that  I  may  go  to  my  master. 

57  And  they  said,  we  will  call  the  damsel,  and  inquire  at  her 
mouth. 

58  And  they  called  Rebekah,  and  said  unto  her,  Wilt  thou  go  with 
this  man?     And  she  said,  I  will  go. 

59  And  they  sent  away  Rebekah  their  sister,  and  her  nurse,  and 
Abraham's  servant,  and  his  men. 

60  And  they  blessed  Rebekah,  and  said  unto  her.  Our  sister,  be 
thou  the  mother  of  thousands  of  ten  thousands,  and  let  thy  seed  pos- 
sess the  gate  of  those  that  hate  them. 

61  And  Rebekah  arose,  and  her  damsels,  and  they  rode  upon  the 
camels,  and  followed  the  man :  and  the  servant  took  Rebekah,  and 
went  his  way. 

Having  finished  so  satisfactorily  his  business,  the  steward  and 
his  men  (who  would  be  in  sufficient  number  for  the  defence 
of  the  caravan  in  its  long  journey  through  uninhabited  deserts), 
ate,  drank  and  slept,  and  on  rising  the  next  morning,  instead 
of  taking  some  days  to  rest,  and  to  see  the  city  and  its  objects 
of  interest,  the  steward  said:  "Send  me  away  to  my  master!" 
If  he  had  spent  ten  days  arranging  the  question  of  a  wife  for 
Isaac,  he  would  have  regarded  it  as  time  well  employed;  but 
he  finished  it  before  eating,  and  not  one  day  longer  did  he  wish 
to  remain!  The  brother  of  the  young  woman  and  her  mother 
wished  a  delay  of  at  least  ten  days.  By  a  singular  Hebrew 
idiom,  the  word  "days"  sometimes  stands  for  a  year  (as  in 
1  Sam.  1:  21;  2:  19;  27:  7;  Judg.  17:  10),  and  there  are  persons 
who,  instead  of  "some  days,  at  least  ten,"  would  translate  it 
a  "year  or  ten  months."  But  this  is  quite  improbable;  and  if 
the  servant  of  Abraham  had  so  understood  it,  it  is  no  wonder 
that,  with  yet  greater  earnestness,  he  should  insist  on  taking  his 
departure  at  once.  The  fact  that  Jehovati  had  prospered  his 
way,  whicb  another  would  have  converted  into  an  argument 
to  spend  some  days  in  recreation  or  in  resting  after  so  long 
a  journey,  operated  with  him  in  precisely  the  opposite  direction: 
"Hinder  me  not,  seeing  that  Jehovah  hath  prospered  my  way! 
Send  me  away  that  I  may  go  to  my  master;"  They  agreed  then 
to  let  the  young  woman  herself  decide  the  question. 

So  they  called  her,  and  when  asked  if  she  would  go  with 
that  man,  that  is,  if  she  would  go  at  once,  she  replied:  "Yes, 
I  will  go."  For  this  so  prompt  and  decided  a  reply,  some  have 
accused  Rebekah  of  being  hasty  and  inconstant;  but  such  an 
opinion  is  founded  on  known  defects  of  her  subsequent  char- 
acter, and  it  is  probably  an  unjust  judgment.     On  the  contrary. 


CHAPTER  2-1:  G2— 67  285 

her  reply  indicates  resolution  and  decision  of  character;  all 
the  more,  if  she  understood  that  they  wished  to  detain  her  for  a 
whole  year,  and  leave  the  servant  of  Abraham  to  return  without 
her. 

The  history  might  leave  on  us  the  impression  that  the  travelers 
took  leave  of  them  that  same  day;  but  it  is  not  necessary  to 
suppose  that  it  happened  so  in  fact,  but  only  that  they  at  once 
set  about  making  the  necessary  preparations,  and  with  all  pos- 
sible dispatch  they  sent  her  away,  with  the  nurse  who  had 
cared  for  her  from  a  child,  and  her  maidens,  and  the  servant 
of  Abraham  and  his  men.  And  they  blessed  Rebekah,  saying: 
"Our  sister,  be  thou  the  mother  of  thousands  of  ten  thousands; 
and  let  thy  seed  possess  the  gate  of  their  enemies!"  Compare 
comments  on  ch.  22:  17.  The  maidens,  or  maid-servants,  which 
Rebekah  carried  with  her,  besides  her  nurse,  do  not  indicate 
great  prosperity  on  the  part  of  the  family;  for  this  was  the 
sum  total  of  what  she  obtained  of  the  property  of  her  father; 
and  when  the  life  of  a  slave  was  valued  at  30  shekels  of  silver 
(=$18,  Ex.  22:  21,  32:  see  Zech.  11:  12,  13;  Matt.  26:  15;  Comp. 
Lev.  27:  2,  3,  4),  and  the  hire  of  "a  father  and  a  priest,"  at 
ten  shekels  of  silver  (=  ?6  gold)  by  the  year,  with  a  suit  of 
apparel  and  his  victuals"  (Judg.  17:  10),  it  was  little  enough 
that  the  only  daughter  of  a  respectable  family  of  somewhat  re- 
duced circumstances,  should  have  more  than  one  or  two  maid- 
servants to  carry  with  her,  when  going  to  be  presented  to  her 
husband,  and  he  very  rich. 

24:  62 — 67.    Isaac's  devotions,    he  marries  rebekah.     (1857  b.  c.) 

62  And  Isaac  came  from  the  way  of  Beer-lahairoi* ;  for  he  dwelt 
in  the  land  of  the  South. 

63  And  Isaac  went  out  to  meditate  in  the  field  at  the  eventide : 
and  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  saw,  and,  behold,  there  were  camels 
coming. 

64  And  Rebekah  lifted  up  her  eyes,  and  when  she  saw  Isaac,  she 
alighted    from   the   camel. 

65  And  she  said  unto  the  servant,  What  man  is  this  that  walketh 
in  the  field  to  meet  us?  And  the  servant  said,  It  is  my  master:  and 
she  took  her  veil,  and  covered  herself. 

66  And  the  servant  told   Isaac  all  the  things   that   he  had  done. 

67  And  Isaac  brought  her  into  his  mother  Sarah's  tent,  and  took 
Rebekah,  and  she  became  his  wife ;  and  he  loved  her :  and  Isaac  was 
comforted  after  his  mother's  death. 

[*M.  S.  v.,  the  Well  of  the  Living-One-who-seeth-me.] 

At  this  time  Abraham  resided  in  Beersheba,  in  the  midst  of 
his  delightful  grove; — his  residence  probably  for  nearly  seventy 
years  before  his  death.  He  seems  to  have  had  his  home  there  in 
all  these  years,  after  the  expulsion  of  Hagar  and  her  son,  with 
occasional  visits  to  Hebron  and  other  places.    The  camel  carrieg 


286  GENESIS 

a  burden  of  800  to  1000  pounds,  at  the  rate  of  30  miles  a 
day.  The  ten  camels  of  Abraham,  which  came  loaded,  returned 
almost  empty,  and  the  steward  would  naturally  hasten  their 
pace,  to  arrive  at  the  encampment  as  soon  as  possible.  In  twelve 
or  fifteen  days  they  would  easily  travel  the  500  miles  of  distance 
between  Haran  and  Beersheba.  Comparing  vr.  62  with  ch.  25:  11, 
it  seems  certain  that  Isaac  was  living  apart  from  his  father, 
near  to  the  Well  of  the-Living-One-who-seeth-me.  If  the  word 
"dwelt"  indicates  permanent  abode  in  the  latter  case,  then  it 
ought  to  indicate  it  in  the  former  also,  since  it  is  not  the 
word  for  sojourning,  or  temporary  abode.  And  although  Beersheba 
was  "in  the  land  of  the  South"  (as  was  also  the  site  of  that 
well),  nevertheless  the  form  of  vr.  62  indicates  that  the  well 
was  at  some  distance  from  Beersheba,  where  Abraham  resided; 
and  still  farther  to  the  south  or  S.  W.  We  have  seen  in  the 
former  chapter  that  Sarah  died  at  Hebron,  while  Abraham  was 
probably  at  Beersheba  (see  comment  on  ch.  23:  2),  looking  after 
his  interests  there.  If  in  this  we  are  right,  it  is  still  easier 
to  see  how  Isaac  should  "dwell"  (with  a  part  of  the  immense 
cattle  interests  of  Abraham)  at  the  site  of  the  Well  of  the-Living- 
One-who-seeth-me,  a  day  or  two's  journey  perhaps  to  the  south 
or  S.  W.  of  Beersheba,  while  his  father  continued  his  tranquil 
abode  at  that  place.  As  he  lived  35  years  after  the  marriage 
of  Isaac,  and  his  was  a  vigorous  and  "good  old  age,"  there  was 
nothing  to  hinder  Isaac's  withdrawing  from  the  neighborhood 
of  his  mother's  empty  tent,  the  sight  of  which  at  every  moment 
would  renew  the  grief  of  his  tender  heart  (vr.  67),  taking  care 
of  the  varied  interests  of  his  vast  estate,  near  to  the  well  of 
Hagar. 

Isaac,  then,  was  "dwelling"  there.  But  as  the  distance  was  not 
great  between  the  two  places,  and  as  he  was  in  expectation  of 
the  arrival  of  his  future  wife,  he  would  naturally  go  and  re- 
turn with  frequency.  In  verse  62,  as  I  understand  it,  it  is  said 
that  Isaac  had  returned  from  the  well  whither  he  had  gone  a, 
little  before  (that  being  the  place  of  his  abode),  and  he  had 
gone  out  into  the  field  in  the  evening  to  meditate,  or  pray, 
when  lifting  up  his  eyes,  he  saw  that  lo!  the  camels  were 
coming  with  their  precious  burden.  The  English  Version  and 
the  Revision  say:  "And  Isaac  came  from  the  way  of  the  well." 
Valera  says  that  "Isaac  was  coming  from  the  well."  Scio  and 
Amat,  following  the  Vulgate,  say  that  "at  the  time  Isaac  was 
taking  a  walk  in  the  road  leading  to  the  well."  The  Jewish 
Version  of  Isaac  Leeser  says  that  "Isaac  came  from  a  walk  to 
the  well,"  etc.,  implying  that  it  was  very  near.     The  Modern 


CHAPTER  24:  62—67  287 

Spanish  Version  says  that  "Isaac  had  returned  from  the  well, 
etc.;  for  he  dwelt  (=  was  dwelling)  in  the  land  of  the  South." 
The  Hebrew  text  says  simply:  "And  Isaac  came  from  going  to 
the  well" — it  was  perhaps  a  two  days'  journey;  which  suggests 
the  idea  that,  although  he  resided  to  the  south  of  Beersheba, 
near  to  the  well  of  Hagar,  he  was  then  on  a  visit  to  his  father, 
and  had  just  been  to  the  well  and  returned;  when,  having  gone 
out  into  the  field  to  meditate  and  pray,  on  an  occasion  so  im- 
portant for  him,  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  saw  that  the  camels 
were  coming. 

This  instance  of  Isaac's  devotions  (a  thing  which  we  observe 
here  for  the  first  time  in  Holy  Scripture)  is  worthy  of  all  praise 
and  imitation.  The  hour — the  close  of  the  day,  is  one  which 
especially  invites  to  meditation  on  divine  things  and  secret 
prayer;  and  the  place,  "the  field"  (or  country),  was  favorable 
to  that  expansion  of  soul  which  is  an  aid  to  the  same  purpose. 
Jesus  recommends  to  us  "the  closet"  with  shut  doors  {Gr.  locked. 
Matt.  6:6),  as  the  place  which  is  ordinarily  most  convenient 
for  secret  prayer;  although  he  himself  frequently  sought  the 
country,  or  the  mountain,  when  it  was  practicable  for  him  to 
do  so.  Mark  1:  35;  Luke  6:  12.  Those  who  have  tried  the 
plan  of  Isaac  (for  we  suppose  that  it  was  his  custom),  will 
have  found  that  every  step  taken  toward  the  place  of  re- 
tirement, is  a  step  nearer  to  God,  and  prepares  the  spirit  for  the 
act  of  drawing  near  to  him  in  prayer. 

But  Isaac  was  not  the  only  one  who  lifted  up  his  eyes;  for 
he  had  hardly  begun  to  walk  toward  the  coming  caravan,  when 
Rebekah  also  lifted  up  her  ej'es,  and  seeing  a  man  on  foot,  who 
was  crossing  the  field,  or  open  country,  coming  toward  them, 
and  learning  from  the  servant  of  Abraham  who  he  was,  she 
dismounted  from  her  camel  and  covered  herself,  not  only  her 
face,  but  her  entire  person,  with  the  Oriental  veil.  It  is  evident 
that  till  then  she  had  been  traveling  among  those  of  her  com- 
pany with  uncovered  face;  and  she  dismounted  from  the  camel, 
because,  as  in  the  East  the  woman  occupies  a  position  of  inferior- 
ity, it  would  have  been  quite  improper  for  her  to  go  riding  on  her 
camel  to  meet  her  future  husband.  Undoubtedly  all  the  company 
did  the  same  thing,  and  walked  to  meet  their  young  master.  The 
servant  then  told  Isaac  of  all  that  had  happened.  It  is  in  con- 
formity with  Biblical  usage  that  the  name  of  Abraham  is  not 
mentioned  in  this  part  of  the  history.  The  servant  undoubtedly 
gave  to  him  an  account  of  how  he  had  fulfilled  the  sworn 
commission  he  had  confided  to  him,  although  nothing  is  said 
about  it;    and   Abraham   doubtless   gave   a   hearty   welcome   to 


288  GENESIS 

his  new  daughter;  but  it  would  have  been  contrary  to  the 
Oriental  style  of  things  to  say  anything  about  that.  Compare 
the  meeting  of  Moses  with  his  father-in-law,  and  his  wife,  and 
two  sons,  in  Ex.  18:  2 — 12.  But  "Isaac  brought  Rebekah  into 
his  mother  Sarah's  tent,  which  had  been  unoccupied  for  three 
years  (ch.  17:17;  23:1;  25:20);  and  he  took  Rebekah,  and 
she  became  his  wife,  and  he  loved  her:  and  Isaac  was  comforted 
after  the  death  of  his  mother."  Such  is  the  simple  story  of 
the  marriage  of  Isaac;  and  the  declaration  that  "he  loved  her" 
is  by  no  means  superfluous;  for,  according  to  our  usages,  the 
man  ought  to  love  before  he  marries;  but  according  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  Orient,  Isaac  did  not  even  see  the  face  of  Rebekah 
until  he  had  carried  her  into  the  tent  of  his  mother;  and  he 
might  well  have  been  disappointed  (as  it  happened  with  Jacob, 
ch.  29:  25 — 31);  something  which  is  necessarily  frequent  among 
those  peoples,  where  the  man  does  not  usually  become  acquainted 
with  his  wife  until  after  they  are  married.  Happy,  therefore, 
was  this  marriage,  of  which  we  are  told  that  "he  took  her, 
and  she  became  his  wife,  and  he  loved  her."  So  well  did  he 
love  her,  that  never  in  his  long  life,  did  he  take  another  wife; 
and  such  doubtless  would  have  been  the  case  with  Jacob  and 
his  much-loved  Rachel,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  cruel  deception 
practiced  upon  him  by  the  rascally  Laban. 

[Note  24. — On  Marriage.  After  the  marriage  celebrated  in 
Eden,  when  Jehovah  himself  presented  to  Adam  his  wife,  this 
is  the  first  account  of  a  marriage  that  we  have  in  the  Bible; 
and  in  the  one  case  it  was  as  entirely  without  ceremony  as  in 
the  other:  "And  Isaac  brought  her  into  his  mother's  tent,  and 
he  took  Rebekah,  and  she  became  his  wife;  and  he  loved  her." 
I  pay  no  regard  to  the  case  of  Hagar  and  Keturah,  for  they  were 
concubines,  or  secondary  wives,  and  could  not  in  any  sense 
compete  in  character  and  condition  with  a  legitimate  and  proper 
wife.  When  Jacob  married  the  daughter  of  Laban,  "Laban 
gathered  together  all  the  men  of  the  place,  and  made  a  feast" 
(ch.  29:  22);  but  so  utterly  without  ceremony  and  exchange  of 
engagements  was  this  marriage,  that  in  the  evening,  or  night, 
Laban  put  Leah  in  the  place  of  Rachel,  for  whom  Jacob  had 
served  him  like  a  slave  during  seven  long  years.  But  in  the 
case  of  Isaac,  it  does  not  appear  that  there  was  even  a  feast, 
or  gathering  of  Abraham's  encampment,  nor  a  formal  con- 
tract in  his  presence;  but  Isaac,  without  further  delay,  installed 
Rebekah  in  his  mother's  tent,  and  with  this,  and  nothing  more, 
she  was  known  and  recognized  as  his  wife. 

This  is  a  point  of  the  greatest  importance.     According  to  the 


CHAPTER  24:  62—67  289 

law  of  God  and  the  teaching  of  the  Bible,  both  in  the  New  and 
Old  Testaments,  marriage  consists  neither  in  sacrament,  nor 
in  rite,  nor  in  any  ceremony;  nor  does  it  derive  its  legitimacy 
from  any  of  these  things;  it  is  rather  the  frank  and  open  union 
of  one  man  and  one  woman  in  indissoluble  and  inviolable  bonds; 
the  form  and  ceremony  are  the  thing  of  least  importance.  In 
Christian  lands  there  are  laws  to  regulate  marriage,  and  the 
Christian  Church  has  rites  and  ceremonies  suitable  to  the  occa- 
sion; and  no  Christian  minister  ought  ever  to  marry  any  one 
contrary  to  the  civil  laws  established  to  regulate  the  relation. 
But  before  God,  marriage  is  something  which  antedates  all  civil 
statutes,  and  all  ecclesiastical  ceremonies  and  usages;  and  sexual 
unions  contrary  to  the  rule  which  the  Creator  established,  are 
declared  by  Christ,  our  final  Judge,  to  be  a  sin  and  a  crime.  In 
the  Bible  we  do  not  find  a  word  about  legitimate  and  illegitimate 
marriages,  outside  of  the  degrees  of  consanguinity  and  affinity 
within  which  all  sexual  relations  came  to  be  crimes  punishable 
by  the  magistrate.  Lev.  IS:  6 — 18.  In  subsequent  times  we  do 
read  of  the  marriage  covenant  (see  Prov.  2:  17;  Ezek.  16:  8; 
Mai.  2:  10),  as  was  natural  and  necessary  with  the  lapse  of  time 
and  the  advances  made  in  the  civil  and  social  state  of  the  people. 
But  the  Bible  treats  all  kinds  of  marriage  as  valid  and  good., 
and  lays  upon  all  married  people  alike  the  obligation  to  perform 
sacredly  its  duties  and  fulfil  its  vows.  Christ  and  his  apostles, 
and  the  Christian  Church  for  three  or  four  centuries,  recognized 
every  form  of  marriage,  whether  of  Jews  or  Samaritans  (John 
2:  1;  4:  17),  whether  of  Greeks  or  Romans,  whether  of  pagans 
or  Christians  (1  Cor.  7:12,  13,  28 — 40);  and  it  never  required 
that  the  parties  should  be  re-married  when  they  entered  the 
Christian  fold,  in  order  to  give  it  validity;  but  only  that  the 
obligations  of  their  previous  marriage  be  sacredly  observed  and 
fulfilled,  as  became  Christian  people. 

For  this  reason  both  fornication  and  adultery  are  so  great 
sins  in  the  sight  of  God;  because,  above  and  beyond  their  own 
moral  turpitude,  they  are  a  complete  prostitution  of  the  marriage 
relation,  instituted  (1)  for  the  honest  and  chaste  procreation  \ 
of  children;  (2)  for  their  education  and  training  for  good  and  ' 
not  for  evil;  and  (3)  in  order  that  the  clean  and  honorable 
family  may  serve  as  the  secure  basis  and  the  fruitful  seed-plot 
for  the  State  and  for  the  Church  of  God.  "Let  marriage  be 
honorable  in  all,  and  the  (conjugal)  bed  be  undefiled;  for  forni- 
cators (on  the  one  hand)  and  adulterers  (on  the  other)  God  will 
judge."     (M.  S.  V.)  Heb.  13:  4.] 

[In  the  days  of  Christ,  polygamy  would  seem,  as  already  said, 


290  Genesis 

to  have  been  completely,  or  practically,  superseded  by  the  more 
convenient  system  of  free  and  easy  divorce  and  remarriage; — a 
condition  of  things  on  which  some  of  our  Western  States  seem 
to  be  rapidly  verging.  We  do  not  ever  find  the  apostles  con- 
fronted or  embarrassed  with  the  question  of  plural  marriages,  in 
the  admission  of  members  to  the  Christian  Church; — a  question 
that  is  so  difBcult  of  management  for  our  missionaries  in  all 
pagan  and  Mohammedan  lands.  Bingham's  Ecclesiastical  An- 
tiquities (Book  XVI,  Ch.  11,  Sec.  5)  states  that  "there  was  never 
any  law  to  authorize  polygamy  in  the  Roman  Empire,"  and  both 
custom  and  public  sentiment  were  against  it.  The  Schaff-Herzog 
Encyclopedia  (article  "Marriage")  speaks  to  the  same  effect:  "all 
the  peoples  of  the  West,  of  a  higher  civilization  discarded  it." 
There  was  therefore  no  need  for  a  positive  prohibition  of  polygamy 
in  the  Christian  Church,  since  it  "faded  out  of  manners  without 
legislation";  as  the  same  article  says. 

But  among  the  Jews,  and  still  more  among  Gentiles,  prevailed 
the  custom,  which  our  Lord  denounces,  of  putting  aioay  one  wife 
and  taking  another; — the  Jews  by  simply  writing  a  "bill  of 
divorcement"  and  giving  it  to  the  woman;  the  Gentiles  without 
even  that  formality.  A  missionary  from  that  country  has  re- 
cently told  the  writer  that  even  in  progressive  Japan,  which  has 
imitated  so  many  of  our  laws  and  usages,  when  a  man  gets  tired 
of  his  wife,  he  simply  says  to  her  "GO!"  and  she  goes!  Among 
the  multitude  of  "amancebados"  found  in  Roman  Catholic  lands, 
it  is  the  man  generally  who  goes,  and  leaves  the  woman  with  the 
care  of  the  children.    What  has  the  Gospel  done  for  us! 

This  explains  the  true  meaning  of  the  phrases  "the  husband  of 
one  wife,"  and  "the  wife  of  one  husband,"  which  occur  re- 
peatedly in  Paul's  writings  (Gr.,  "the  man  of  one  woman,"  "the 
woman  of  one  man").  Persons  thus  ill-mated  (of  whom  both  Jewish 
and  Gentile  lands  were  full) ,  might  become  private  members  of  the 
church,  and  be  received  to  Christian  fellowship,  when  converted 
to  Christianity;  but  they  could  not  hold  any  office  in  the  church. 
Out  of  the  3,000  converted  and  baptized  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
there  might  easily  have  been  100  such,  if  not  more.  This  was 
no  toleration  of  polygamy  (which  did  not  in  fact  exist),  as  some 
commentators  strangely  imagine,  from  ignorance  of  a  usage  so 
different  from  our  own;  but  all  missionaries  to  Roman  Catholic 
countries  understand  it  to  their  sorrow.  See  foot-note  on  Aman- 
cebamiento.     Pp.  35,  36. 

This  state  of  things  is  due  primarily  and  chiefly  to  the  in- 
fluence, direct  and  indirect,  of  the  so-called  "Sacrament  of 
Marriage,"    and    the   allied    influences    which    have    formed    the 


CHAPTER  25:  1—4  291 

character  and  mode  of  life  of  those  peoples;  and  now  that  custom 
has  made  it  practically  a  social  law,  it  is  next  to  impossible  to 
shake  it  off,  even  in  some  Mexican  States  where  the  Govern- 
ment offers  to  all  civil  marriage  free  of  charge.  See  El  Faro, 
for  May  15,  1905.  And  no  wonder,  when  their  Church  teaches 
that  Civil  Marriage  is  only  another  form  of  "Amancebamiento .'" 
And  that  is  not  the  worst  of  it.  The  Roman  Catholic  doctrine 
that  no  marriage  but  her  own  is  legitimate, — none  but  the  "sacra- 
ment" celebrated  by  a  Roman  Catholic  priest,  degrades  Protestant 
Marriage,  as  well  as  Civil  Marriage,  to  the  same  level!  so  that 
according  to  the  teachings  of  that  Church,  which  would  pose 
as  the  sole  guardian  of  the  sanctity  of  viarriage,  five-sixths  of 
the  people  of  Great  Britain,  with  King  Edward  VII  at  their  head, 
and  nine-tenths  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  with  President 
Roosevelt  at  their  head,  are  living  in  a  state  of  legalized  Con- 
cubinage, and  their  children  are  born  out  of  wedlock!  Her 
"amancebados"  certainly  find  themselves  in  the  best  of  com- 
pany! By  such  wickedly  absurd  teaching,  that  Church  makes 
the  extremes  meet,  and  degrades  the  standard  of  public  and 
private  morality,  while  pretending  to  exalt  it! — Tr.] 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

VES.    1 — 4.       ANOTHER   WIFE    WHOM    ABRAHAM    HAD    TAKEN.       (Of    Un- 
certain date.) 

1  And  Abraham  took  another  wife.*  and  her  name  was  Keturah. 

2  And  she  bare  him  Zimran,  and  Jokshan,  and  Medan,  and  Midian, 
and  Ishbak,  and  Shuah. 

3  And  Jokshan  begat  Sheba,  and  Dedan.  And  the  sons  of  Dedan 
were  Asshurim,  and  Letushim,  and  Leummim. 

4  And  the  sons  of  Midian  :  Ephah,  and  Epher,  and  Hanoch,  and 
Abida,  and  Eldaah.    All  these  were  the  children  of  Keturah, 

["Mod.  Span.  Ver.,  But  Abraham  had  taken  another  wife.] 

More  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  Calvin  called 
attention,  in  his  commentary,  to  the  fact  that  this  passage  ought 
to  be  translated  (as  it  is  in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version): 
"Abraham  had  taken  another  wife";  but  this  has  been  of  little 
benefit  to  most  translators  and  commentators  from  that  day 
to  this,  who  continue  to  translate  the  words  so  as  to  give  to 
understand  that  after  the  death  of  Sarah,  and  after  the  marriage 
of  Isaac,  Abraham,  an  old  man  of  140  years,  married  again, 
and  had  by  this  marriage  six  sons  more.  I  find  it  hard  to 
account  for  a  translation  so  inopportune,  erroneous  and  mislead- 
ing as  this.  Where,  then,  was  the  singular  grace  and  favor  of 
God,  in  a  man  of  a  hundred  years  old  having  a  son,  if  forty 


292  GENESIS 

years  later  (and  even  fifty  years),  he  had  consecutively  six 
sons  more,  by  another  new  wife?  Without  doubt  Moses  has 
cause  (and  Paul  likewise),  to  complain  of  his  translators. 

It  is  altogether  idle  to  say  that  such  is  the  simple  and  correct 
translation  of  the  Hebrew  words;  for  in  Hebrew  the  verbs 
have  no  moods  or  tenses,  in  our  use  of  the  terms;  and  its  two 
so-called  tenses,  the  past  and  future,  or  more  properly,  the  per- 
fect and  imperfect,  have  to  do  duty  for  the  eighteen  or  twenty 
forms  of  the  regular  Spanish  verb,  in  the  Indicative  and  Sub- 
junctive moods,  which  include  the  Potential  as  found  in  English. 
Including  auxiliary  forms,  we  have  not  less  than  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  different  teviporal  forms  of  every  verb,  where  the  Hebrew 
has  but  two;  and  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  translator  to  vary 
the  shadings  of  the  thought,  according  as  every  several  case 
may  require.  This  the  translator  knows,  but  the  ordinary 
reader  does  not  know;  and  therefore  it  is  not  fair  to  him  to 
give  him  the  Hebrew  form  and  leave  him  to  do  the  shading  for 
himself.  The  Hebrew,  or  Jew,  of  ancient  and  modern  times 
makes  the  adjustments  unconsciously,  varying  the  thought  ac- 
cording to  the  conditions  of  the  case;  because  he  has  tJie  habit 
of  thinlcing  in  these  forms,  so  different  from  our  own.  "He 
took,"  "He  has  taken,"  "He  had  taken,"  is  all  one  in  Hebrew; 
but  in  our  more  exact  forms  of  speech  it  is  very  different.  To 
say  therefore,  after  relating  the  death  of  Sarah  and  the  mar- 
riage of  Isaac:  "And  Abraham  took  another  wife,  who  bore  him 
six  children  more,"  is  not  a  correct  translation,  if  the  Bible  it- 
self really  makes  manifest  (as  it  does  in  vr.  6  of  this  same 
chapter)  that  all  this  had  taken  place  long  before.  Amat,  with 
much  propriety  says:  "Abraham  had  also  taken  another  wife, 
named  Keturah,  who  bore  him  Zamram,"  etc.  Keturah  was  prob- 
ably a  woman  of  his  own  encampment,  one  of  his  own  people; 
a  woman  who  could  not  aspire  to  a  condition  superior  to  that 
of  Hagar,  Sarai's  servant,  and  mother  of  Ishmael.  It  is  morally 
impossible  that  Abraham,  after  sending  to  Haran  to  get  a  wife 
for  Isaac  (ch.  24:  1 — 4),  should  himself  marry  a  Canaanitish 
woman,  even  though  she  were  the  daughter  of  a  prince;  — 
such  an  one  as  might  aspire  to  the  standing  of  a  principal 
wife. 

The  proof  that  he  had  taken  her  before  the  death  of  Sarah, 
is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  only  two  times,  besides  this,  in 
which  the  Bible  speaks  of  her,  she  is  expressly  called  the  "con- 
cubine  of  Abraham."  Vr.  6;  1  Chron.  1:  32.  If  he  had  taken 
her  after  the  death  of  Sarah,  having  separated  himself  from 
Hagar  35  years  before,  Keturah  wouM  not  have  leen  his  con- 


CHAPTER  25:  1—4  293 

cuiine,  hut  his  legitimate  and  only  wife.  This  argument  does 
not  admit  of  reply.  The  Mosaic  use  of  the  word  "concubine" 
is  clearly  determined  in  ch.  35:  22,  where  Bilhah,  maid-servant  of 
Rachel,  is  called  the  "concubine"  of  Jacob. 

Another  proof  that  he  had  taken  her  before  the  birth  of 
Isaac,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  not  only  had  Abraham  regarded 
it  as  out  of  all  ordinary  possibility  "that  a  son  should  be  born 
to  a  man  a  hundred  years  old"  (ch.  17:  17),  but  the  New  Testa- 
ment tells  us  by  that  "his  tody  was  now  as  good  as  dead"  (Rom. 
4:  19;  Heb.  11:  12)  and  that  only  by  the  interposition  of  a  divine 
power  could  the  promise  of  the  human  redemption  be  realized 
(ch.  18:  14);  on  which  circumstance  is  based  the  extraordinary 
character  of  the  faith  of  Abraham,  "who  against  hope  believed 
in  hope,  that  he  might  become  the  father  of  many  nations."  Rom. 
4:  18.  Now  this  would  be  worse  than  an  extravagance,  if,  after 
the  death  of  Sarah,  he  should  marry  again,  and  have  by  this 
marriage  six  sons,  without  any  divine  promise,  and  in  a  purely 
natural  way.  It  is  futile  to  allege  that  that  stupendous  act 
of  faith,  at  99  years  of  age  so  rejuvenated  "his  body  then  as 
good  as  dead,"  that  he  could  begin  to  have  another  new  family 
40  or  50  years  later.  The  Bible  does  not  deal  in  foolish  and 
ridiculous  statements.  God  would  take  good  care  that,  when 
by  a  singular  favor  of  his,  and  by  the  extraordinary  faith  of 
Abraham,  a  child  was  granted  to  a  man  a  hundred  years  old, 
this  same  man  should  not  have  half  a  dozen  children  in  a 
purely  natural  way  at  the  age  of  140  or  150  years!  The  error, 
which  is  not  a  small  one,  belongs  to  the  translation,  and  not  to 
the  text. 

Another  proof  is  found  in  the  circumstance  related  in  verse  6, 
that  the  six  sons  of  Keturah  were  not  boys,  nor  inexperienced 
youths,  when  "Abraham  gave  them  gifts,  and  sent  them  away 
from  Isaac,  eastward,  into  the  east  country,"  but  on  the  con- 
trary were  men  of  age  and  experience,  well  capable  of  manag- 
ing their  affairs  in  the  world.  It  is  therefore  probable  and 
almost  certain  that  they  were  older  than  Isaac;  and  it  is 
probable,  as  has  already  been  said,  that  Abraham  had  divided 
to  them  their  respective  portions  of  his  estate,  and  had  sent  them 
far  away,  before  Isaac  was  married. 

The  reason  for  this  late  mention  of  Keturah  and  her  sons 
appears  to  be  this:  When  Moses  was  bringing  the  history  of 
Abraham  to  a  close,  and  telling  what  disposal  he  made  of  his 
immense  estate,  he  had  naturally  to  mention  his  other  sons, 
to  whom  he  divided  a  worthy  portion  of  his  goods,  and  before 
his  death  sent  them  away  from   Isaac,  his  son  and  heir;    and 


294  GENESIS 

it  is  to  be  believed  that  he  sent  them  away  long  before  his 
death;  so  long  before,  that  Isaac  would  have  no  question  or 
dispute  with  any  of  them  after  the  death  of  his  father.  It  seems 
plain  that  only  on  this  account  does  he  mention  at  all,  so  much 
out  of  place,  Keturah  and  her  six  sons. 

Of  none  of  these  six  sons  of  Keturah  have  we  any  historical 
notice  whatever,  with  the  exception  of  Midian;  of  whom,  or 
rather  of  his  descendants,  we  have  frequent  mention  in  the 
history  of  Israel,  until  the  end  of  the  book  of  Judges.  Moses 
married  a  Midianitess,  the  daughter  of  Jethro,  priest  and  prince 
of  Midian.  Aside  from  this,  the  Midianites  always  present  them- 
selves in  Bible  history  as  the  treacherous  and  implacable  enemies 
of  Israel. 

25:  5,  6.   ABRAHAM  DISPOSES  OF  HIS  ESTATE  BEFORE  HIS  DEATH. 

(Of  uncertain   date.) 

5  And  Abraham  gave  all  that  he  had  unto  Isaac. 

6  But  unto  the  sons  of  the  concubines,  that  Abraham  had,  Abra- 
ham gave  gifts ;  and  he  sent  them  away  from  Isaac  his  son,  while  he 
yet  lived,  eastward,  unto  the  east  country. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  history,  or  in  the  uses  of  the  Orientals 
to  lead  us  to  suppose  that  all  this  was  done  in  the  same  day, 
or  the  same  year.  In  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  the  younger 
said  one  day,  to  his  own  sorrow:  "Father  give  me  the  portion 
of  goods  which  falleth  to  me.  And  he  divided  unto  them  his 
living"  (Luke  15:  12);  not  equally,  of  course;  for  in  every  such 
case  a  double  portion  fell  to  the  first-born  (Dent.  21:  17);  but 
he  divided  his  estate  between  them.  The  younger  son  took  what 
was  his,  and,  after  converting  it  into  money,  went  away 
with  it;  and  the  rest  belonged  to  the  elder  son;  with  regard  to 
which  the  father  did  not  hesitate  to  say:  "All  that  I  have  is 
thine."  Luke  15:  12,  31.  It  is  in  this  way  that  we  ought  to 
understand  these  two  verses.  Beginning  with  Ishmael,  whom 
he  sent  far  away  from  Isaac  first,  it  i-;  probable  that  he  sent 
them  all  away  from  him  successively  (dividing  to  each  such  a 
portion  of  his  goods  as  appertained  to  them)  in  the  course  of 
many  years,  and  at  the  time  that  their  age  and  other  circum- 
stances made  most  opportune;  and  what  was  left  he  gave  it 
all  to  Isaac.  We  shall  need  to  forget  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal 
Son  in  order  to  suppose  that  Abraham  would  need  treat  the  sons 
of  his  concubines  with  great  niggardliness  in  order  to  "give  all  he 
had  to  Isaac." 

In  this  matter  of  disposing  of  his  estate  long  before  his  death, 
and    seeing    to    it    himself    that    there    were    no    disputes    and 


CHAPTER  25:  7—11  295 

wranglings  between  his  sons  about  the  division  of  the  property, 
Abraham  has  given  us  a  laudable  example  and  worthy  of  univer- 
sal imitation.  The  last  will  and  testament  of  dead  men  with 
lamentable  frequency  causes  great  heart-burnings  and  even  open 
dissensions  among  their  children;  and  it  often  happens  that 
the  disposal  they  make  of  their  property  is  altogether  frustrated, 
because  they  lacked  the  willingness  or  the  valor  to  dispose  of 
their  estate  during  their  life-time,  and  be  the  executors  of  their 
own  testamentary  will.  If  it  be  little  that  one  possesses,  the 
case  is  less  urgent;  but  when  the  estate  is  large,  an  honorable 
and  just  disposal  of  it  during  the  lifetime  of  the  owner,  when 
he  is  able  hirnself  to  place  such  arrangement  upon  a  good  and 
secure  footing,  would  give  less  occupation  to  the  lawyers,  but  in 
exchange,  would  secure  the  tranquillity  of  the  family,  and  the 
security  of  the  legacies  made.  It  is  a  proof  of  much  indolence 
or  much  cowardice  on  the  part  of  those  fathers  who  leave  it  till 
after  their  death  for  their  children  and  heirs  to  come  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  partialities  and  prejudices  which  lodged  in  their 
hearts;  and  sometimes  their  children  have  occasion  to  curse 
their  memory,  instead  of  blessing  it.  Nothing  of  the  sort  did 
Abraham  do.  Doubtless  it  cost  him  much  trouble  and  difficulty 
to  duly  weigh  the  natural  claims  of  Ishmael  and  the  six  sons 
of  Keturah;  but  if  he  had  not  done  so,  it  would  have  been 
a  sad  day  for  the  pacific  and  timid  Isaac,  when  once  his  father 
slept  in  death,  and  the  seven  half-brothers  entered  into  dis- 
putes with  him  over  the  share  of  the  patrimony  which  fell 
severally  to  them.  The  fact  that  there  were  no  such  disputes 
is  the  best  guaranty  that  Abraham  dealt  justly  and  honorably 
with  them  all. 

It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  all  the  sons  of  Abraham,  except 
Isaac,  were  fond  of  the  life  of  the  desert;  and  so  their  father 
sent  them  toward  the  east  of  Beersheba  into  the  east  country — 
into  the  great  desert  of  Arabia,  which  lay  between  the  land 
of  Israel  and  the  river  Euphrates.  In  the  days  of  Moses  we 
find  the  Midianites  in  the  peninsula  of  Mount  Sinai  and  to 
the  east  of  the  Elanitic  Gulf  of  the  Red  Sea;  we  find  them 
likewise  mingled  with  the  Moabites  in  their  wars  against  Israel. 
Num.  23:  7;  25:  1,  2,  17,  18;  31:  2,  3.  Vr.  18  informs  us  that 
the  descendants  of  Ishmael  were  scattered  from  Havilah,  near 
the  Persian  Gulf,  unto  Shur,  at  the  entrance  of  Egypt,  a  dis- 
tance of  1000  miles. 

25:   7 11.       THE   DEATH   OF   ABRAHAM.       (1822    B.    C.) 

7  And  these  are  the  days  of  the  years  of  Abraham's  life  which 
he  lived,  a  hundred  threescore  and  fifteen  years. 


296  GENESIS 

8  And  Abraham  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  died  in  a  good  old  age, 
an  old  man,  and  full  of  years,  and  was  gathered  to  his  people. 

9  And  Isaac  and  Ishmael  his  sons  buried  him  in  the  cave  of  Mach- 
pelah,  in  the  field  of  Ephron  the  son  of  Zohar  the  Hittite,  which  is 
before  Mamre ; 

10  the  field  which  Abraham  purchased  of  the  children  of  Heth : 
there  was  Abraham  buried,  and  Sarah  his  wife, 

11  And  it  came  to  pass  after  the  death  of  Abraham,  that  God 
blessed  Isaac  his  son :  and  Isaac  dwelt  by  Beer-Iahai-roi.* 

[*:z:The  Well   of  the  Living-One-who-seeth-me.] 

Abraham  lived  35  years  after  the  marriage  of  Isaac,  and  prob- 
ably in  his  beloved  Beersheba,  where  he  had  his  well,  or  his 
wells,  and  his  grove,  which  he  had  planted  70  years  before  his 
death.  Although  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  South  land 
was  then  as  denuded  of  trees  as  it  is  now,  a  grove  such  as 
Abraham  planted  in  Beersheba  (ch.  21:  33),  would  have  as 
powerful  an  attraction  for  him  as  the  oak-grove  of  Mamre  had 
in  former  years.  Perhaps  something  had  happened  at  Mamre 
which  caused  him  so  completely  to  substitute  the  grove  of  Beer- 
sheba for  the  oaks  of  Mamre. 

"Abraham  gave  up  the  ghost  (Heb.  expired=breathed  his  last) 
and  died  in  a  good  old  age,  an  old  man,  and  full  of  years,  and 
was  gathered  to  his  people"  {Heb.  peoples); — a  beautiful  sum- 
ming up  of  a  life  and  a  death  in  which  everything  happened 
at  its  proper  season.  We  infer  from  this,  that  in  contrast  with 
the  old  age  of  Isaac  and  of  Jacob,  Abraham  passed  his  in  good 
health,  honored  and  esteemed  by  all  his  neighbors,  beloved  and 
venerated  by  all  his  own  people.  "Full  of  years"  means  to 
say  that  he  had  them  both  good  and  in  abundant  measure,  and 
did  not  desire  any  more;  according  to  the  beautiful  expression  of 
Eliphaz  the  Temanite: 

"Thou  Shalt  come  to  thy  grave  in  a  full  age, 

like  as  a  shock  of  grain  cometh  in  its  season."  Job  5:  25. 
Only  in  the  case  of  Gideon  (Judg.  8:  32),  and  of  David  (1  Chron. 
29:  28)  do  we  find  repeated  this  description  of  the  prosperous 
old  age  of  Abraham, — though  not  in  the  identical  words. 

The  phrase  "he  was  gathered  to  his  peoples"  is  extremely  in- 
teresting; for,  explain  it  as  you  will,  it  reveals  to  us  with  clear- 
ness and  certainty  the  hope  of  immortality  which  was  cherished 
in  the  ancient  dmes.  Observe  the  movement  and  progression  in- 
dicated: "He  breathed  out  (his  last  breath);  and  he  died;  and 
was  gathered  to  his  peoples;  and  they  buried  him"; — four  things 
closely  related  but  distinct:  like  those  words  of  Jesus:  "And 
the  beggar  died,  and  was  carried  by  angels  into  Abraham's 
bosom;  the  rich  man  also  died,  and  was  buried,  and  in  hell  (Gr, 
Hades=among  the   dead)    he   lifted   up   his   eyes   being  in   tor- 


CHAPTER  25:  7—11  297 

ments."  Luke  16:  22,  23.  In  both  cases  this  expresses  not 
what  would  happen  after  the  resurrection,  but  in  the  time  in- 
termediate between  death  and  the  resurrection.  Let  us  be 
careful,  however,  not  to  infer  that  "was  gathered  to  his  peo- 
ples" means  to  say  he  was  received  into  the  congregation  of 
the  blessed.  Let  us  be  just  and  accurate  in  our  interpretations 
of  Scripture.  The  same  phrase  is  used  of  Ishmael  also  (vr.  17), 
and  it  would  be  hazardous  to  draw  the  inference  that  Ishmael 
is  also  in  the  congregation  of  the  blessed,  waiting  for  the  day 
of  the  resurrection  and  the  promised  immortality.  Of  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  of  Moses  and  Aaron  also,  and  of  these  alone,  is  used 
the  same  phrase;  which  occurs  only  in  the  five  Books  of  Moses. 
In  Judg.  2:  10,  the  corresponding  phrase  "ivere  gathered  to  their 
fathers"  is  used  with  reference  to  the  entire  generation  that 
entered  Canaan,  without  even  a  thought  of  putting  them  all  in 
glory.  This  phrase  does  not  occur  any  more  in  the  Bible;  but 
the  equivalent  phrase  (used  also  of  Moses,  in  Deut.  31:  16), 
"slept  with  his  fathers''  (or  more  correctly,  "lay  down  with  his 
fathers," — for  the  death  of  the  wicked  is  not  called  a  sleep), 
is  used  with  regard  not  only  to  David  and  Jehoshaphat,  and 
Hezekiah,  and  Josiah,  but  of  Solomon  also  (whose  case  is  doubt- 
ful to  say  the  least — sensualist  that  he  was,  1  Kings  11:  3),  and 
of  Rehoboam,  and  Abijah,  and  Jehu,  and  such  monsters  of 
iniquity  as  Ahaz  and  Ahab.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the 
phrase  in  neither  of  its  three  forms  has  reference  to  the  rest 
of  the  blessed;  but  certainly  it  speaks  of  the  future  existence  of 
souls  separate  from  the  body;  as  the  dead  Samuel  said  to  Saul — 
words  which  froze  his  soul:  "And  tomorrow  thou  and  thy  sons 
Shalt  be  with  me!"  (1  Sam.  28:  19);  without  meaning  to  say 
they  would  be  in  heaven,  or  at  rest,  or  "in  hell,"  or  anything  of 
the  kind;  or  to  affirm,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  souls  of  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked  were  mingled  together  in  one  vast 
receptacle,  or  common  place  of  abode.  Nothing  is  said  of 
receptacle,  or  place  of  abode,  one  way  or  the  other;  but  rather 
of  coNDiTiox,  or  state; — "Ye  shall  be  with  me,"  among  the  dead; 
— a  state  or  condition  of  conscious  and  sentient  being,  which 
not  only  for  the  ancients,  but  for  ourselves,  is  an  unfathomable 
and  inexplicable  mystery,  which  none  of  us  will  be  able  to 
understand,  till  we  enter  into  it  and  ascertain,  each  for  himself, 
what  that  state  of  disembodied  being  really  is.  Neither  reason 
nor  Scripture  gives  us  to  understand  (much  as  we  may  think 
it),  that  a  disembodied  soul  resembles  an  angelic  being.  See 
Luke  20:  35,  36.  Of  that  abnormal  condition,  totally  foreign  to 
man's    nature    as   God    designed    and    made    him,    Calvin    says: 


298  GENESIS 

"The  wonderful  counsel  of  God  devised  a  middle  state;  that, 
without  life,  we  might  live  in  death.'"'  No  man  ever  spoke  more 
wisely  of  what  we  understand  so  little.  Institutes,  Book  III,  Ch. 
25,  Sec.  9.  See  Note  27,  on  "Sheol,"  or  "Hades,"  with  comments 
on  chs.  25:  8  and  42:   38. 

It  is  also  of  interest  to  know  that  his  two  sons,  Isaac  and 
Ishmael  (the  precedence  being  given  to  Isaac)  buried  him. 
Isaac  was  at  that  time  75  years  old,  and  Ishmael  89.  Isaac 
was  three  years  old  when  Ishmael  and  his  mother  were  sent 
away  from  the  encampment  of  Abraham,  and  we  have  no  notice 
of  the  two  having  met  again  in  the  intervening  space  of  72 
years;  yet  as  we  are  positively  sure  that  Ishmael  was  not  dis- 
inherited, but  obtained  his  honorable  share  among  the  sons 
of  his  father's  two  concubines  (vr.  6),  it  is  positively  certain 
that  during  these  72  years  he  returned,  perhaps  repeatedly,  to  the 
paternal  home  to  receive  the  portion  of  the  inheritance  that 
came  to  him.  It  is  to  be  believed  that  during  that  time  he 
had  become  the  head  of  a  powerful  tribe  of  nomads  of  the 
desert,  not  only  descendants  of  his  own,  but  his  servants  and 
dependents  (comp.  ch.  14:  14),  and  of  others  likewise,  associated 
with  him  as  a  valiant  and  expert  captain.  Twice  we  are  told 
that  he  had  for  his  sons  "twelve  princes,"  heads  of  tribes; 
and  twelve  princes  (ch.  17:  20;  25:  16)  could  not  be  born  of  any 
but  a  famous  and  powerful  father,  and  would  necessarily  gather 
their  tribes  largely  from  the  surrounding  peoples.  It  is  there- 
fore to  be  supposed  that  at  89  years  of  age,  at  the  burial  of 
his  father,  he  would  present  himself  in  Hebron  with  such  ac- 
companiment and  simple  magnificence  (which  the  Arabs  dearly 
love)  as  corresponded  with  his  quality  and  condition.  This 
pacific  meeting  of  the  two  half-brothers,  on  an  occasion  so 
tender  and  interesting,  is  also  a  guaranty  that  Ishmael  was 
satisfied  with  the  treatment  he  had  received  from  his  father, 
and  with  the  part  of  the  estate  which  had  been  given  him;  other- 
wise it  would  have  been  easy  for  him  to  endanger  the  interests 
of  Isaac. 

On  leaving  at  this  point  the  history  of  Abraham,  let  us  re- 
member: 

1st.  That  he  was  a  convert  from  idolatry;  he  abandoned  the 
religion  of  his  country  and  of  his  father  (see  comments  on  chs. 
12:  1;  31:  53),  like  the  Thessalonians  of  whom  Paul  said  "Ye 
turned  unto  God  from  idols,  to  serve  the  living  and  true  God." 
1  Thes.  1:  9.  And  this  is  an  example  worthy  of  the  imitation 
of  those  who  ought  to  abandon  the  idolatries  and  superstitions 
of  Romanism,  to  embrace  and  propagate  the  true  religion  of  the 


CHAPTER  25:  7—11  299 

true  God.  And  this  being  so,  the  sooner  they  abandon  the  errors 
of  their  fathers  the  better.  The  most  brutish  pagans  make 
the  same  argument  as  do  the  Romanists,  to  persist  in  the  false 
worship  of  their  fathers,  without  perceiving  the  harm  and  loss 
that  in  a  thousand  ways  it  brings  to  them,  and  to  their  children, 
and  to  their  country. 

2nd.  Of  all  converts  Abraham  was  the  most  zealous  and  faith- 
ful; and  in  his  own  person  he  answers  the  cavilings  of  ignorant 
and  prejudiced  irreligious  men,  who  claim  that  those  who  change 
their  religion  are  not  sincere.  The  world  today  is  full  of  the 
precious  fruits  of  that  change  of  religion  which  Abraham  made; 
and  all  modern  nations  are  no  less  full  of  the  precious  fruit 
of  the  change  of  religion  which  the  Reformers  and  the  nations 
of  Northern  Europe  made  in  the  16th  century.* 

3rd.  His  faith  in  the  new  God  he  had  found,  or  rather,  who 
had  found  him  (ch.  18:  19;  Gal.  4:9),  was  proof  against 
every  solicitation  and  assault;  and  God  took  care  to  prove  and 
refine  it  in  every  possible  way.  Thus  we  also  ought  to  "walk 
in  the  steps  of  the  faith  of  our  father  Abraham,"  and  not  be 
cast  down  on  account  of  the  trials  through  which  our  God  leads 
us,  for  the  same  purpose. 

Vr.    11    informs    us   that   "the   blessing   of   Abraham"    passed 

♦Where  would  England  be  today,  and  Scotland,  and  Germany,  and 
Holland,  and  Denmark,  and  Norway  and  Sweden,  and  British  America, 
and  the  United  States,  and  Australia,  and  other  Protestant  countries,  if 
in  the  16th  century  our  fathers  had  burned  Bibles  and  those  who  read 
them,  to  bow  the  neck  under  the  galling  yoke  of  the  Romish  priesthood ; 
as  Spain  did?  And  per  contra,  where  would  the  great  Spain,  on  whose 
empire  the  sun  once  never  set,  be  today,  and  Portugal,  and  Italy,  and  Aus- 
tria, and  Mexico,  and  South  America,  had  their  fathers  broken  the  yoke 
of  priests,  in  the  16th  century,  to  accept  instead  the  light  and  easy  yoke 
of  Christ,  and  say  with  Jesus:  "Call  no  man  your  (spiritual)  father  on 
the  earth;  for  one  (only)  is  your  Father,  icho  is  inheaven"  (Matt.  23  :  9)  ; 
and  with  Paul  :  "Ye  are  bought  with  a  price  ;  be  not  ye  the  servants  of 
men!"  1  Cor.  7:3.  The  enterprise,  and  intelligence,  and  liberties  of 
France,  above  all  the  other  Roman  Catholic  lands,  she  owes  chiefly  to 
Protestantism ;  one-third  of  her  people  having  been  Protestant  in  the 
17th  century ;  who  held  their  own  for  more  than  a  century  against  all 
the  persecuting  might  of  Rome,  backed  by  the  despotic  power  of  treacher- 
ous kings.  The  fickleness,  and  licentiousness,  and  infidelity,  and  atheism. 
In  which  she  excels  other  Roman  Catholic  peoples,  she  owes  largely  to 
the  fact  that  that  '-one-third/'  which  might  soon  have  become  two-thirds, 
was  drowned  in  rivers  of  its  own  blood,  treacherously  and  basely  shed, 
for  their  religion's  sake.  What  would  "Beautiful  Prance"  be  today, 
had  she  taken  as  her  beau-ideal  of  a  man  among  men  her  own  chivalrous 
and  God-fearing  Coligny  ;  and,  accepting  God's  word  as  her  only  rule  of 
faith  and  duty,  adopted  as  her  own  the  heaven-approved  maxim  "That 
every  man  should  bear  rule  in  his  own  house"  (Esth.  1:  22),  and  neither 
priest  nor  preacher  cross  his  threshold  without  his  consent? — Tr. 


3b0  GENESIS 

straight  on  to  Isaac,  and  that  the  death  of  Ahraham  caused 
no  interruption  in  the  descent  of  the  blessings  of  the  covenant. 
"He  remembereth  his  covenant  forever."    Ps.  Ill:  5. 


25:  12 — 18.    MEMOIRS  of  ishmael.     (1911 — 1773  b.  c.) 

12  Now  these  are  the  generations  of  Ishmael,  Abraham's  son, 
whom  Hagar  the  Egyptian,   Sarah's  handmaid,  bare  unto  Abraham : 

13  and  these  are  the  names  of  the  sons  of  Ishmael,  by  their  names, 
according  to  their  generations :  the  first-born  of  Ishmael,  Nebaioth ; 
and  Kedar,  and  Abdeel,  and  Mibsam, 

14  and  Mishma,  and  Dumah,  and  Massa, 

15  Hadad,  and  Tema,  Jetur,  Naphish,  and  Kedemah : 

16  these  are  the  sons  of  Ishmael,  and  these  are  their  names,  by 
their  villages,  and  by  their  encampments ;  twelve  princes  according  to 
their  nations. 

17  And  these  are  the  years  of  the  life  of  Ishmael,  a  hundred  and 
thirty  and  seven  years :  and  he  gave  up  the  ghost  and  died,  and  was 
gathered  unto  his  people. 

18  And  they  dwelt  from  Havilah  unto  Shur  that  is  before  Egypt, 
as  thou  goest  toward  Assyria:  he  abode  over  against  all  his  brethren. 

We  have  already  observed  (ch.  2:  4)  that  in  the  technical  phrase 

"these  are  the  generations  of ,"  which  occurs  eleven  times 

in  the  book  of  Genesis,  the  word  "generations"  does  not  signify 
ordinarily  a  genealogical  table,  but  more  commonly  is  equivalent 
to  "memoirs,"  or  brief  family  history;  and  this  case  is  not  an 
exception;  for  the  names  which  follow  do  not  form  a  genealogical 
table,  but  are  simply  the  names  of  the  twelve  sons  of  Ishmael, 
who  were  the  heads  of  tribes,  or  princes  of  nomadic  peoples,  ac- 
cording to  the  promise  of  Jehovah  to  Abraham  with  respect  to 
Ishmael:  "Twelve  princes  shall  he  beget,  and  I  will  make  of  him  a 
great  nation."  Ch.  17:  20.  It  seems  that  the  historian,  having 
spoken  in  vr.  11  of  the  blessing  of  Jehovah  which  came  upon 
Isaac  after  the  death  of  his  father,  inserts  here  these  memoirs  of 
Ishmael,  before  continuing  the  history  of  Isaac,  in  order  to  record 
the  fact  that  Jehovah  did  not  forget  his  promise  regarding  Ish- 
mael.  "These  are  the  names  of  the  sons  of  Ishmael  by  their 
names  and  according  to  their  generations,"  does  not  signify  suc- 
cessive generations ;  for  they  were  all  brothers  and  contempo- 
raries; but  probably  it  means,  as  Gesenius  says,  "in  the  order  of 
their  birth."  Verse  16  varies  the  phrase  in  this  manner: 
"These  are  the  sons  of  Ishmael,  and  these  are  their  names,  by 
their  villages,  and  by  their  encampments;  twelve  princes  accord- 
ing to  their  nations."  It  is  not  possible  for  us  to  locate  these 
tribes  of  Ishmael;  and  as  instead  of  cities  and  towns  they  had 
"villages  and  encampments,"  it  would  not  be  possible  to  deter- 
mine their  boundaries  or  limits,  being  wandering  tribes  that  had 
none.  We  have  already  seen  (ch.  10:  7,  14,  26—29),  that  the  de- 
scendants of  Ham,  of  the  family  of  Cush,  and  the  descendants  of 


CHAPTER  25:  12—18  301 

Shem,  of  the  family  of  Joctan,  established  themselves  in  the 
richest  and  most  delightful  part  of  Arabia  (called  Arabia  Felix), 
along  the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  as  far 
as  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  in  the  high  lands  of  the  interior;  but  vr. 
18  informs  us  that  the  Ishmaelitish  tribes  extended  themselves 
"from  Havilah  [on  the  western  coast  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  as  is 
supposed,  near  the  mouths  of  the  river  Euphrates]  into  Shur"; 
on  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  at  the  entrance  of  Egypt;  a  distance  of 
1000  miles,  embracing  all  the  north  of  Arabia  and  of  the  Peninsula 
of  Mount  Sinai.  But  1  Sam.  15:  7  tells  us  that  Saul  smote  the 
Amalekites  "from  Havilah  as  thou  goest  unto  Shur,  which  is  be- 
fore Egypt."  This  is  essentially  the  same  phrase  that  we  have 
here,  and  yet  Saul  could  not  have  gone  anywhere  near  the  desert 
of  Arabia.  Havilah  is  to  be  understood,  in  this  case,  of  some 
point  in  the  mountain  country  of  Seir,  and  some  maps  have  it  in- 
dicated as  on  the  west  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Akabah,  the  Elanitic 
branch  of  the  Red  Sea,  in  the  territory  of  the  Amalekites.  There 
are  in  the  Bible  four  or  five  different  regions  that  bear  the  name 
of  Havilah. 

Of  these  twelve  sons  of  Ishmael  we  know  nothing  more  than 
their  names;  although  to  them,  or  to  their  descendants,  called  by 
the  name  of  their  respective  fathers,  we  have  several  allusions  in 
the  Bible;  as  Nabaioth,  Kedar,  Duma,  Tema,  Jetur  and  Naphish. 

The  years  of  the  life  of  Ishmael  were  137 — ten  years  more  than 
the  life  of  Sarah,  38  less  than  that  of  Abraham,  43  less  than  that 
of  Isaac,  and  10  less  than  that  of  Jacob;  perhaps  the  dangers  and 
exposures  of  his  desert  life,  shortened  his  days.  As  regards  the 
phrase  "he  was  gathered  to  his  peoples,"  see  comment  on  vr.  8  of 
this  chapter.  When  we  consider  that  in  the  days  of  Abraham  and 
Moses,  the  Egyptians  and  the  Babylonians  had  their  "doctrine  of 
the  dead"  in  a  state  of  full  development,  as  is  shown  by  their 
books  still  existing,  discovered  in  recent  years,  we  see  clearly 
that  nothing  less  than  a  supernatural  revelation  and  a  constant 
superintendence  of  the  divine  Spirit  could  have  deterred  Abra- 
ham and  Moses  (who  were  perfectly  acquainted  with  these  doc- 
trines of  the  dead,  having  been  educated,  the  one  under  the  Baby- 
lonish system,  and  the  other  under  the  Egyptian),  from  com- 
municating even  a  trace  of  it  to  their  people,  as  part  of  the  rev- 
elation of  Jehovah.  And  what  would  we  do,  if  we  found  such 
fables  in  the  religion  of  Abraham  and  the  writings  of  Moses,  and 
had  to  reconcile  them  with  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ?  No! 
the  silence  of  the  writings  of  Moses  on  such  matters,  relating  to 
the  dead,  proves  that  the  Spirit  of  God  directed  his  mind  and  his 
pen;  it  could  not  otherwise  have  happened. 


302  GENESIS 

[If  it  should  here  occur  to  a  hundred  readers  to  ask:  "Why 
then  did  not  God  at  once  reveal  the  correct  doctrine  of  the  dead"? 
I  reply,  by  asking,  how  many,  and  which,  of  the  half-dozen  or 
more  ''doctrines  of  the  dead,"  prevailing  in  Christian  countries, 
1900  years  after  Christ,  are  God-revealed,  and  how  many,  or  how 
much  of  them,  are  man-devised?  As  I  have  remarked  already 
(Translator's  Note  1),  (1)  Luke  16:  9,  22—31;  (2)  Luke  23:  42, 
43;  (illustrated  by  2  Cor.  12:  2—4  and  Rev.  2:  7);  (3)  Acts  7: 
55—59;  (4)  2  Cor.  5:  1,  6,  8;  (5)  Phil.  1:  21,  23;  (6)  2  Tim.  4: 
6—8;  (7)  Heb.  11:  13,  39,  49;  (8)  Jude  vr.  7;  (9)  Rev.  14:  13;— 
these  nine  passages  (and  perhaps  Heb.  6:  12),  cover  all  that  Christ 
and  his  apostles  teach  us  as  to  the  place,  the  character  and  the 
present  condition  of  disembodied  souls,  both  holy  and  unholy. 
Rev.  7:  4 — 17  is  not  a  vision  of  the  blessedness  and  employment 
of  disembodied  souls,  but  is  evidently  a  symbolic  representation  of 
redemption  completed,  perfected  both  in  number  and  degree.  Re- 
deemed souls,  though  in  heaven,  do  not  "reign  in  life,"  while  yet 
death  reigns  over  their  mortal  bodies;  any  more  than  Christ  did, 
the  three  days  he  lay  in  Joseph's  tomb.  They  wait  "with  Christ," 
■while  "he  waits  till  his  foes  be  made  his  footstool"  (Heb.  10: 
13) — "waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our 
body."  Rom.  8:  23.  See  Note  27,  on  Sheol,  or  Hades.  Chapter 
37:  35.  It  is  probable,  I  think,  that  no  truthful  and  comprehen- 
sible revelation  could  be  made  to  mortal  man  of  that  mysterious 
state  of  disembodied  existence  that  follows  immediately  upon 
death,  and  that,  therefore,  the  Bible  has  not  attempted  it; — in 
strongest  contrast  with  all  man-made  religions. — Tr.] 

"The  sons  of  Ishmael"  represent  h6re  not  only  those  who  were 
his  sons  personally,  but  the  tribes  or  nations  who,  according  to 
the  style  of  the  Old  Testament,  bore  the  names  of  the  fathers  from 
whom  they  descended;  speaking  frequently  of  a  tribe  or  a  people 
as  of  a  single  individual.  See  Num.  20:  8;  Judg.  11:  13,  17,  19. 
Verse  18  designates  the  vast  bounds  of  the  nomadic  abode  of  the 
descendants  of  Ishmael.  But  in  the  matter  of  the  limits  of  peo- 
ples, we  ought  always  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  geography  of  the 
Bible  and  of  the  ancient  nations  (and  even  those  of  modern 
Europe,  prior  to  the  16th  century,  or  even  after  that  date),  was  a 
thing  much  more  vague  and  uncertain  than  in  our  day,  in  which 
we  begin  to  know  tolerably  well  the  world  in  which  we  live. 

The  words  "as  thou  goest  towards  Assyria,"  in  vr.  18,  are  dif- 
ficult, but  they  seem  to  be  a  technical  phrase  which  signifies  that 
leaving  Egypt,  and  going  in  the  direction  of  Assyria,  one  would 
pass  through  Shur.  The  words  "He  abode  over  against  all  his 
brethren,"  as  found  In  the  "American  Standard  Edition"  of  the 


CHAPTER  25:  19—23  303 

Revision,  are  rendered  in  the  A.  V.  and  the  older  Versions  gen- 
erally: "He  died  {Hch.  fell)  in  the  presence  of  all  his  brethren." 
But  in  Biblical  usage  to  fall  does  not  mean  to  die,  except  when 
one  falls  in  battle.  Nor  can  it  be  understood  in  what  sense  It 
could  be  said  that  Ishmael  died  in  the  presence  of  all  his  brethren; 
and  still  less  when  it  is  remembered  that  it  is  not  said  of  him 
individually,  but  as  the  father  of  twelve  nations  or  tribes.  The 
Revised  Version  renders  it  correctly,  as  also  the  Jewish  Version 
of  Isaac  Leeser,  and  the  Modern  Spanish  Version,  "He  abode 
(or  dwelt)  in  the  presence  of  all  his  brethren,"  understanding  the 
Hel).  "fell"  to  mean,  the  lot  fell  to  him;  according  to  the  promise 
given  to  his  mother  before  his  birth  (ch.  16:  12) :  "And  he  shall 
dwell  in  the  presence  of  all  his  brethren";  giving  us  to  under- 
stand that  he  maintained  himself  on  a  firm  footing,  in  dignity 
and  independence,  in  the  presence  of  the  descendants  of  Isaac, 
and  of  the  sons  of  Keturah. 


25:  19—23.     memoirs  of  isaac.     (1897—1838  b.  c.) 

19  And  these  are  the  generations  of  Isaac,  Abraham's  son  :  Abra- 
ham begat  Isaac : 

20  and  Icanc  was  forty  years  old  when  he  took  Rebekah,  the 
daughter  of  Bethnel  and  Syrian  of  Paddanaram,  the  sister  of  Laban 
the  Syrian,  to  be  his  wife. 

21  And  Isaac  entreated  Jehovah  for  his  wife,  because  she  was 
barren :  and  Jehovah  was  entreated  of  him,  and  Rebekah  his  wife 
conceived. 

22  And  the  children  struggled  together  within  her ;  and  she  said, 
If  it  be  so,  wherefore  do  I  live?    And  she  went  to  inquire  of  Jehovah. 

23  And  Jehovah  said  unto  her,  Two  nations  are  in  thy  womb,  And 
two  peoples  shall  be  separated  from  thy  bowels  :  And  the  one  people 
shall  be  stronger  than  the  other  people ;  And  the  elder  shall  serve  the 
younger. 

Isaac  was  40  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  marriage,  and  his  two 
sons  were  born  to  him  when  he  was  60, — 20  years  after  his  mar- 
riage. Abraham  was  100  years  old  when  Isaac  was  born,  and  140 
at  the  time  he  married;  he  lived  35  years  longer,  dying  at  the  age 
of  175;  so  that  he  lived  until  Esau  and  Jacob  were  15  years  of  age. 
Rebekah  was  barren.  It  is  remarkable  how  many  mothers  of 
notable  Bible  characters  were  barren;  by  divine  arrangement, 
perhaps,  in  order  to  prove  the  faith  of  their  parents — Sarah, 
Rebekah,  Rachel,  the  mother  of  Sampson,  Hannah  the  mother  of 
Samuel,  and  Elizabeth  the  mother  of  John  the  Baptist.  On  this 
account  Isaac  and  his  wife  were  greatly  disturbed  and  perplexed; 
and  children  were  given  to  them  in  answer  to  special  prayer. 
Doubtless  in  his  prayers  Isaac  alleged  the  great  promises  given  to 
Abraham  and  confirmed  to  himself.  How  could  the  promises  be 
fulfilled  to  him  and  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  who  were  to 


304  GENESIS 

be  blessed  in  Abraham  and  his  seed,  if  Isaac,  the  heir  of  the 
promise,  was  to  remain  "a  dry  tree"?  Fortunately  for  him  and 
Rebekah  they  did  not  repeat  the  error  of  Sarah  and  Abraham. 
Ch.  16:  2,  3.  Instead  of  such  a  human  expedient  to  give  fulfilment 
to  the  divine  promise,  Isaac  set  himself  to  beseech  God,  who 
granted  conception  to  Rebekah;  in  which  we  note  the  effects  of 
pious  education,  training  and  culture.  Well  is  it  said  in  Ps.  127:  3: 

"Lo  children  are  a  heritage  from  Jehovah, 
and  the  fruit  of  the  womb  is  his  reward." 

So  Isaac  felt  it  to  be  when,  after  20  years  of  patient  waiting,  his 
wife  presented  him  with  two  sons.  But  is  it  less  so  when  chil- 
dren are  born  in  the  natural  order  of  things?  I  think  not,  and 
Christian  people  never  should  regard  it  as  otherwise  than  a 
precious  gift  of  God;  a  gift  none  the  less  estimable  for  being  so 
ordinary;  and  I  suppose  that  every  mother  feels  it  so  when  she 
embraces  her  first  child.  When  the  first  child  was  born  into  this 
world.  Eve  exclaimed:  "I  have  gotten  a  man  by  the  favor  of 
Jehovah."  (M.  S.  V.)  Gen.  4:  1.  And  shall  it  be  esteemed  less  a 
favor  in  the  case  of  other  mothers,  and  other  children,  because 
less  appreciated?  When  the  desperate  Rachel  cried  out  passion- 
ately to  Jacob:  "Give  me  children,  or  else  I  die!"  he  replied: 
"Am  I  in  God's  stead,  who  hath  withheld  from  thee  the  fruit  of 
the  womb?"  Ch.  30:  1,  2.  When  Esau  asked  Jacob  as  to  the 
numerous  family  which  he  had  met  on  the  way,  he  replied:  "They 
are  the  children  whom  God  hath  graciously  given  to  thy  servant." 
Ch.  33:  5. 

The  two  nations  that  were  to  descend  from  her  were  throughout 
all  their  history  the  most  uncompromising  and  bitterest  of  foes 
(Ezek.  35:  5),  and  would  seem  to  have  begun  their  contentions  be- 
fore their  birth.  So  distressing  was  the  case,  that  Rebekah  well- 
nigh  repented  of  having  besought  the  Lord  for  children,  and  ex- 
claimed: "If  it  was  to  be  thus,  why  did  I  desire  this?"  (M.  S. 
v.)  The  case  seemed  to  her  so  extraordinary  that  she  went  to 
Inquire  of  Jehovah.  How  she  did  this  it  is  not  given  us  to  ascer- 
tain. It  may  be  that  it  was  in  prayer;  but  the  phrase  "to  con- 
sult" or  "to  inquire  of  Jehovah"  has  in  the  Bible  the  technical 
sense  of  consulting  the  oracle  of  God;  and  the  manner  in  which 
this  is  described  in  1  Sam.  9:  9,  gives  us  to  understand  (although 
this  is  the  first  case  of  it  that  we  find  in  the  Bible)  that  it  was  a 
constant  usage  in  the  old  times:  "Beforetime  in  Israel,  when  a 
man  went  to  inquire  of  God,  thus  he  said:  Come  and  let  us  go 
to  the  seer!  for  he  that  is  now  called  a  prophet  was  beforetimes 
palled  a  seer."    And  as  Abraham  was  still  living  in  Beersheba,  not 


CHAPTER  25:  24—28  305 

very  far  from  the  well  of  the  Living-One-that-seeth-me,  where 
Isaac  resided,  the  words,  "she  went  to  inquire  of  Jehovah"  in  her 
perplexity,  would  naturally  mean  that  she  went  to  Beersheba 
to  see  Abraham  himself;  with  regard  to  whom  Jehovah  had  said 
to  Abimelech:  "He  is  a  prophet,  and  shall  pray  for  thee,  that 
thou  die  not."  Ch.  20:  7.  Extremely  interesting  is  this  item  of 
information  given  us  here,  that  there  were  in  those  times  ways 
and  means  by  which  individuals  could  communicate  with  God, 
as  certain  and  reliable  as  those  by  which  God  communicated  with 
men.  It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  the  first  example  we  have  of  this, 
is  that  of  a  woman;  and  the  fact  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  by 
women  who,  2800  years  after  Rebekah,  have  occasion  to  consult 
God  in  the  living  oracles  of  his  holy  word — this  being  the  only 
method  we  today  have  of  consulting  God,  in  humble  prayer  and 
entire  dependence  upon  his  Holy  Spirit. 

The  answer  of  the  oracle  is  given  in  poetical  form,  as  is  usual  in 
the  Old  Testament;  and  it  gave  her  to  understand  that  she  had 
within  her  two  nations,  and  that  even  from  the  bowels  of  their 
mother  these  two  peoples  would  be  in  dissension;  so  that  the 
struggles  she  felt  within  her  presaged  the  incessant  struggles 
there  would  be  between  the  two  brothers  and  the  respective  pos- 
terity of  each.  And  in  fact  Edom  was  always  the  most  implacable 
enemy  of  the  many  that  Israel  had  in  the  whole  course  of  their 
history. 

The  oracular  reply  that  "the  elder  shall  serve  the  younger," 
indicated,  antecedently  to  any  act  of  theirs  (as  the  apostle  says 
in  Rom.  9:  11,  12),  upon  which  of  them  fell  the  divine  election 
to  be  the  heir  of  the  promises  given  Abraham,  and  confirmed  to 
his  son  Isaac;  and  doubtless  this  oracle  (of  which  they  could  not 
remain  ignorant)  helped  to  create  and  foment  that  spirit  of 
rivalry  which  marked  their  lives,  and  gave  occasion  (in  addi- 
tion to  their  so  different  characters  and  dispositions)  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  those  struggles  which  commenced  before  their  birth. 

25:  24 — 28,    esau  and  jacob  aee  bobn.    their  diffebent  disposi- 
tions AND  CHARACTERS.      (1837   B,   C.) 

24  And  when  her  days  to  be  delivered  were  fulfilled,  behold,  there 
were  twins  in  her  womb. 

25  And  the  first  came  forth  red,  all  over  like  a  hairy  garment;  and 
they  called  his  name  Esau. 

26  And  after  that  came  forth  his  brother,  and  his  hand  had  hold 
on  Esau's  heel ;  and  his  name  was  called  Jacob :  and  Isaac  was  three- 
score yeai-s  old  when  she  bare  them. 

27  And  the  boys  grew  :  and  Esau  was  a  skilful  hunter,  a  man  of 
the  field ;  and  Jacob  was  a  quiet*  man,  dwelling  in  tents. 

*0r,  harmless,  HcJj.,  perfect.     [A.  V.,  plain.] 


306  GENESIS 

28  Now  Isaac  loved  Esau,  because  be  did  eat  of  his  venison :  and 
Rebekah  loved  Jacob. 

According  to  our  usage,  children  take  the  name  of  their  parents, 
or  of  the  kindred  of  their  parents,  or  their  friends;  or  else  a 
name  chosen  according  to  their  fancy  or  caprice;  in  the  early  ages 
it  would  seem  that  proper  names  were  scarce,  judging  by  the  fre- 
quent repetition  of  them  which  we  have  in  the  ancient  geneological 
tables;  and  any  trivial  circumstance  of  their  birth,  or  any  acci- 
dent in  their  personal  history  was  sufficient  to  determine  the 
name  they  would  bear.  Comp.  vr.  30.  Indeed,  it  is  to  be  bo 
lieved  that  the  original  name  was  sometimes  exchanged,  at  a 
later  date,  for  another  which  more  adequately  expressed  any 
notable  circumstance  of  their  life.  It  is  probable  that  it  so  hap- 
pened with  Abel  (  =  "Vanity").  The  radical  differences  which 
existed  between  these  boys,  Esau  and  Jacob,  began  to  reveal  them- 
selves before  they  were  born,  and  were  supposed  to  be  revealed 
in  their  very  appearance,  and  in  the  circumstances  of  their  birth. 
It  ordinarily  happens  that  twins  are  much  alike;  but  here  it  wa3 
just  the  opposite.  Esau,  the  first-born,  was  red  ("ruddy"  the  same 
word  is  translated  in  the  case  of  David,  in  1  Sam.  16:  12;  17: 
42),  both  as  to  his  complexion  and  the  color  of  his  hair,  and 
"all  over  like  a  hairy  garment";  from  which  circumstance  he  took 
the  name  Esau  (=  hairy);  an  indication  of  his  rude,  violent, 
frank  and  passionate  character.  Jacob,  on  the  contrary,  was  of  a 
smooth  skin  (ch.  27:  11)  and  of  a  character  no  less  smooth  and 
deceitful;  and  in  the  opinion  of  his  friends  he  manifested  in  the 
very  moment  of  his  birth  his  treacherous  tendencies,  seizing  his 
elder  brother  by  the  heel;  for  which  reason  they  gave  him  a 
name  of  reproach,  which  at  the  time  of  his  conversion  God 
changed  to  a  most  honorable  one,  saying:  "Thou  shalt  be  no 
more  called  Jacob  (z=  Supplanter),  but  Israel  (=He  who  strives, 
or  prevails  with  God);  for  thou  hast  contended  with  God  and 
with  men  and  hast  prevailed."    Ch.  32:  28. 

As  they  grew  up,  the  young  men  developed  the  same  tendencies 
and  characteristics.  Esau  was  a  man  of  the  field  (or  country,  in- 
cluding the  woods),  not  given  to  agriculture,  which  indeed  was  no 
part  of  his  business;  but  a  skilful  hunter,  and  ready  to  fight 
hand  to  hand  with  as  many  fierce  beasts,  or  fiercer  men  as  set 
themselves  before  him.  The  story  of  David  and  his  encounters 
with  the  bear  and  the  lion  (1  Sam.  17:  34 — 36),  as  something 
often  repeated,  will  give  us  an  idea  of  the  perils  in  the  midst  of 
which  Esau  passed  his  life  as  a  hunter,  in  unpeopled  wilds,  800 
years  before  David  was  born.  Jacob,  on  the  contrary,  was  a 
"quiet    (or   'plain')    man,"   without  skill  or   dexterity,   or   other 


CHAPTER  25:  24—28  307 

manly  accomplishments,  and  passed  his  life  seated  indolently 
among  the  tents,  or  in  womanish  occupations  in  the  encampment. 
The  old  opinion  that  Jacob  was  pious,  and  devoted  to  divine  things 
from  his  youth,  is  without  doubt  founded  on  the  word  which  is 
translated  "plain,"  which  others  render  "sincere";  and  as  this  is 
the  same  word  which  in  the  case  of  Job  (ch.  1:  1),  is  translated 
"perfect,"  some  have  believed  that  it  ought  to  be  understood  here 
in  a  good  sense.  But  the  epithet  "perfect"  has  no  application 
whatever  in  the  case  of  Jacob,  and  it  is  necessary  to  seek  some 
other  meaning  which  better  agrees  with  the  known  facts  of  his 
life.  "Plain"  or  "simple"  is  that  word,  not  in  the  sense  of  sincere 
or  innocent,  but  in  the  sense  of  without  art,  or  skill,  or  manly 
accomplishments.  Jacob  was  "a  quiet  (or  plain)  man  who  dwelt 
in  tents"  misleads  one,  in  contrasting  his  life  and  character  with 
that  of  Esau;  for  Esau  was  undoubtedly  more  frank  and  sincere 
than  Jacob;  and  he  also  "dwelt  in  tents,"  of  course,  as  he  had 
no  house  to  dwell  in;  with  this  difference,  that  Jacob  dwelt  in 
tents  by  day,  and  Esau  by  night.  "To  dwell"  and  "to  sit  down" 
are  the  same  word  in  Hebrew;  and  the  purpose  of  the  author  is 
doubtless  to  paint  Esau  as  bold,  valiant,  skillful,  dexterous,  habit- 
uated to  dangers,  and  a  stranger  to  fear;  while  Jacob  was  with- 
out skill  or  dexterity,  or  any  special  accomplishment,  without  am- 
bition, of  a  timid  disposition  (as  he  revealed  it  in  the  house  of 
Laban),  and  passed  his  life  sitting  indolently  about  the  encamp- 
ment. A  knowledge  of  the  unamiable,  unattractive,  unpromising 
character  of  Jacob  is  essential  to  a  proper  recognition  of  the  hand 
of  God  in  the  work  of  his  conversion.  It  is  greatly  to  the  discredit 
of  religion  to  represent  the  false  and  intriguing  Jacob,  as  having 
been  pious  from  his  youth. 

Isaac  admired  and  loved  his  valiant  hunter,  and  the  reason 
given  manifests  at  the  same  time  his  weak  side:  "Isaac  loved 
Esau,  because  he  did  eat  of  his  venison"  (a  very  expressive  phrase 
in  Hebrew:  "because  his  venison  was  in  his  mouth");  "but  Re- 
bekah  loved  Jacob,"  whom  she  had  always  with  her  at  home; 
and  the  form  of  the  declaration  implies  that  the  partiality  of  each 
for  the  favorite  son  was  open,  and  without  any  pretense  or  dis- 
guise. Polygamy  produced  lamentable  results  in  the  family  of 
Abraham  and  Jacob;  Isaac  was  a  strict  monogamist  and  much 
devoted  to  his  wife,  ch.  24:  67  (perhaps  weakly  subject  to  her 
will) ;  but  results  no  less  lamentable  grew  out  of  such  a  happy 
beginning,  for  particular  reasons;  and  especially  on  account  of  the 
undisguised  partiality  of  the  parents  each  for  the  favorite  son. 
It  is  impossible  for  parents  not  to  have  preferences  in  the  family 
and  love  their  children  with  varying  degrees  of  affection;  unless 


308  GENESIS 

all  of  them  are  cast  in  the  same  mould,  and  have  all  the  same 
character  and  disposition:  the  evil  lies  in  their  manifesting  it,  or 
in  varying  their  treatment  according  to  their  partiality. 

25:  29 — 34.    jacob  with  shameless  selfishness  demands  it,  and 

ESAU    WITH    PROFANE     SPIRIT     SELLS     HIM     HIS     BIRTH-RIGHT.       (Of 

uncertain  date.) 

29  And  Jacob  boiled  pottage:  and  Esau  came  in  from  the  field, 
and  he  was  faint : 

30  and  Esau  said  to  Jacob.  Feed  me,  I  pray  thee,  with*  that  same 
red  pottage;  for  I  am  faint :  therefore  was  his  name  called  Edom, 

31  And  Jacob  said,  Sell  me  first  thy  birthright. 

32  And  Esau  said,  Behold,  1  am  about  to  die :  and  what  profit 
shall   the  birthright  do  to  me? 

33  And  Jacob  said,  Swear  to  me  first ;  and  he  sware  unto  him : 
and  he  sold  his  birthright  unto  Jacob. 

34  And  Jacob  gave  Esau  bread  and  pottage  of  lentils ;  and  he  did 
eat  and  drink,  and  rose  up,  and  went  his  way :  so  Esau  despised  hi3 
birthright. 

*[J/.  S.  v.,  Let  me  gulp  down  part  of,  etc.] 

The  divine  oracle  had  declared,  before  the  children  of  Rebekah 
were  born,  that  "the  elder  should  serve  the  younger."  This  the 
two  parents  well  knew,  and  it  was  not  possible  that  the  two  sons 
should  fail  to  know  it  also;  and  that  would  contribute  its  part  to 
promote  a  spirit  of  rivalry  and  discord  between  the  two.  The 
marked  partiality  of  each  of  the  parents  for  the  favorite  son, 
operating  upon  the  different  disposition  of  each,  and  upon  the 
rivalry  already  existing  between  them,  made  matters  worse  and 
worse.  One  day  Esau  came  in  from  his  favorite  occupation,  com- 
pletely exhausted,  and  he  found  Jacob  in  the  tent  as  usual,  busy 
with  the  womanish  occupation  of  cooking  a  mess  of  pottage.  He 
urgently,  but  civilly,  begged  he  would  permit  him  to  ''devour''  a 
part  of  that  same  red  pottage,  which  Jacob  had  before  him,  the 
sight  of  which  and  its  odor  appealed  irresistibly  to  his  present  need, 
worn  out  as  he  was  with  fatigue:  (M.  S.  V.,  "I  beg  that  thou  wilt 
let  me  gulp  down  part  of  that  same  red  pottage").  The  very  word 
which  he  uses  (lagnat),  "devour,"  "gulp,  or  swallow  down,"  at- 
tests his  urgent  necessity  and  the  passionateness  of  his  request: 
with  a  single  gulp  he  was  ready  to  pass  it  from  the  pot  to  his 
stomach.  From  this  red  pottage  Esau  took  the  second  name  that 
he  bore,  to  wit,  "Edom"  =  Red.  It  would  seem  that  Jacob  had 
for  a  long  time  been  on  the  watch  for  a  favorable  opportunity 
to  capture  that  birth-right,  of  which  an  accident  of  his  birth,  and 
the  difference  of  a  single  moment,  had  deprived  him,  and  to  the 
possession  of  which,  in  his  opinion,  the  oracle  of  God  gave  him  the 
best  of  titles.    Like  the  mother  of  Herodias,  who  for  a  long  time 


CHAPTER  25:  29—34  309 

was  seeking  the  favorable  opportunity  for  the  accomplishment  of 
her  designs  (Mark  6:  21 — 24),  so  Jacob,  always  on  the  alert,  seeing 
here  his  opportunity,  took  advantage  of  the  impatient  importunity 
of  Esau  and  his  urgent  necessity,  saying:  "Sell  me  this  day  (or 
first  of  all)  thy  birthright!"  Esau,  who  with  all  his  fine  natural 
endowments  and  his  admirable  qualities,  was  out  and  out  a  world- 
ling, for  whom  "the  blessing  of  Abraham"  was  a  matter  of  little 
importance,  required  no  urging,  nor  did  he  hesitate  a  moment. 
Resolute,  frank  and  open-hearted  in  everything,  he  said  to  Jacob: 
"Behold  I  am  at  the  point  to  die,  and  what  profit  shall  the  birth- 
right do  to  me?"  But  Jacob,  distrustful,  astute  and  without 
natural  affection,  said:  "Swear  to  me  first!"  and  the  worldly  and 
valiant  hunter,  bold  in  everything,  did  not  hesitate,  but  without 
vacillation  swore  to  him;  selling  to  Jacob  his  birthright  for  a  mess 
of  pottage.  It  is  wonderful  with  what  skill  the  Bible  paints  this 
act  of  contemning  holy  things:  "Then  Jacob  gave  to  Esau  bread 
and  pottage  of  lentils;  and  he  did  eat,  and  drank,  and  rose  up, 
and  went  his  way:  so  Esau  despised  his  birthright."  It  is  neces- 
sary to  keep  in  view  the  fact  that  together  with  the  birthright, 
"the  blessing  of  Abraham"  carried  with  it  the  promises  of  human 
redemption:  things  about  which  Esau  did  not  concern  himself 
enough  to  understand  the  magnitude  of  his  sin. 

Well  has  the  apostle  said:  "Looking  diligently  lest  any  man 
fail  of  the  grace  of  God;  lest  any  root  of  bitterness  springing  up 
trouble  you,  and  thereby  many  be  defiled;  lest  there  be  any  forni- 
cator, or  profane  person,  as  Esau,  who  for  one  mess  of  meat  sold 
his  own  birthright.  For  ye  know  that  even  when  he  afterward 
desired  to  inherit  the  blessing,  he  was  rejected;  for  he  found  no 
place  for  a  change  of  mind  (in  his  father),  though  he  sought  it 
diligently  with  tears."  Heb.  12:  15 — 17.  The  apostle  does  not 
admit  that  the  pressing  urgency  of  Esau's  necessity  (though  it 
sets  in  an  odious  light  the  meanness  of  Jacob)  can  in  any  wise 
mitigate  the  foolish  wickedness  of  his  act.  Others,  rather  than 
lose  an  incorruptible  crown,  have  willingly  lost  every  worldly 
good,  and  even  life  itself;  but  Esau,  rather  than  put  a  check  upon 
his  appetite  until  somebody  could  prepare  him  food,  sold  for  one 
savory  morsel  the  great  privileges  of  his  birthright,  together  with 
the  promises  of  the  human  redemption.  Let  all  sensualists  give 
attention  to  this — especially  those  sensualists  whom  the  apostle 
particularly  addresses,  who  by  profession  are  found  in  the  house- 
hold and  family  of  faith. 

The  timid  Jacob  was  by  nature  incapable  of  sinning  in  the  same 
way  as  Esau,  although  he  incited  him  to  do  it,  and  was  capable 
Of  sinning  no  less  gravely  in  other  ways.     And  those  parents 


310  GENESIS 

who  have  children  with  Esau's  disposition,  who  do  nothing  by 
halves,  ought  to  endeavor  constantly  and  with  ardent  prayer  to 
God,  to  preoccupy  their  hearts  with  the  lessons  and  examples  of  a 
true  and  noble  piety;  in  order  that  they  may  be  valiant  for  the 
truth,  bold  in  the  defence  of  the  right,  resolute  and  intrepid  in 
fulfilling  their  obligations:  unless  this  is  done,  their  natural  tem- 
per will  tend  to  drag  them  blindly  into  the  wild  excesses  and  dis- 
orders of  an  unholy  and  criminal  life. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

VBS.  1 — 5.  ON  ACCOUNT  OF  A  FAMINE  IN  THE  LAND,  ISAAC  SETS  OUT 
FOB  EGYPT;  BUT  GOD  STOPS  HIM  IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PHILISTINES; 
HE  EENEWS  TO  HIM  THE  COVENANT  MADE  WITH  ABRAHAM,  AND 
CONSTITUTES    HIM    THE    HEIE    OF    THE    PROMISES.        (Of    uncertain 

date.) 

1  And  there  was  a  famine  in  the  land,  besides  the  first  famine 
that  was  in  the  days  of  Abraham.  And  Isaac  went  unto  Abimelech 
king  of  the  Philistines,  unto  Gerar. 

2  And  Jehovah  appeared  unto  him,  and  said.  Go  not  down  into 
Egypt ;  dwell  in  the  land  which  I  shall  tell  thee  of : 

3  sojourn  in  this  land,  and  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  will  bless 
thee ;  for  unto  thee,  and  unto  thy  seed,  I  will  give  all  these  lands, 
and  I  will  establish  the  oath  which  I  sware  unto  Abraham  thy 
father ; 

4  and  I  will  multiply  thy  seed  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  will 
give  unto  thy  seed  all  these  lands ;  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  be  blessed ; 

5  because  that  Abraham  obeyed  my  voice,  and  kept  my  charge, 
my  commandments,  my  statutes,  and  my  laws. 

In  our  happy  America  we  do  not  know  what  famine  means,  as 
It  is  known  in  the  Eastern  Hemisphere.  In  parts  of  Europe,  and 
particularly  in  the  great  plains  of  Russia,  they  know  it  also.  In 
India  and  China  people  die  of  famine,  with  only  too  great  fre- 
quency, by  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  even  by  millions.  In 
Palestine,  one  of  the  natural  conditions  most  necessary  to  the 
discipline  and  tutelage  of  the  people  of  Israel  under  the  hand 
of  God,  consisted  in  the  fact  that  a  country  so  rich  and  abundant 
In  years  of  seasonable  rains,  was  at  all  times  liable  to  seasons  of 
drought,  general  or  partial,  which  brought  about  a  famine  of 
greater  or  less  extent;  and  this,  in  order  that  the  people  should 
always  feel  their  constant  dependence  on  the  provident  hand  of 
God  for  the  means  of  subsistence. 

More  than  a  hundred  years  before,  Abraham,  recently  arrived 
from  Haran,  in  Mesopotamia,  and  resident  in  this  same  part  of 
Canaan,  went  down  into  Egypt  on  account  of  a  famine  there  was 
in  the  land.     It  seems  that  Isaac  proposed  to  take  the  same  step; 


CHAPTER  2G:  1—5  311 

and  so  from  Beersheba,  or  the  Well  of  the  Living-One-who-seeth- 
me  (ch.  25:  11),  he  went  to  Gerar,  with  the  intention  of  going 
from  there  into  Egypt.  Abimelech  was  then  king  of  the  Philis- 
tines in  Gerar.  As  it  is  impossible  that  he  should  be  the  same 
man  who  reigned  there  before  the  birth  of  Isaac  (ch.  21:  2),  it 
seems  probable  that  in  Gerar  the  name  "Abimelech"  (=iMy 
father  the  king),  like  "Pharaoh"  in  Egypt,  was  the  title  of  the 
king,  rather  than  his  proper  name.  The  common  chronology 
assigns  to  this  event  the  approximate  date  of  1805  B.  C,  when 
Isaac  was  93  years  of  age;  and  if  Rebekah  was  20  when  she 
married  him,  she  would  be  about  73; — suppositions,  both  of  them, 
which  are  little  in  accord  with  the  incident  mentioned  in  vrs. 
6 — 9.  There  are  but  few  dates  in  these  histories  given  in  the 
margin  of  our  Bibles,  in  which  we  can  have  entire  confidence, 
even  accepting  for  certain  the  chronology  of  the  Hebrew  text. 
(See  Note  12,  on  Biblical  Chronology.)  This  is  one  of  the  cases 
where  we  have  a  full  certainty  of  error;  and  the  circumstance  of 
Its  being  narrated  after  the  sale  which  Esau  had  made  of  his 
birthright,  does  not  prove  that  the  occurrence  really  took  place 
after  that  deed,  or  that  Isaac  and  Jacob  were  at  that  time  30  or 
35  years  of  age.  The  Bible  does  not  follow  strictly  the  chronolog- 
ical order  of  the  events  which  it  relates.  Even  the  Four  Gospels 
do  not  always  follow  It,  and  notably  the  Gospel  of  Luke.  We 
have  already  several  times  seen,  and  particularly  in  the  case  of 
Keturah  (ch.  25:  1),  that  Moses  himself  did  not  always  follow 
the  order  of  events  in  his  narrative;  and  in  ch.  25,  the  death 
and  burial  of  Abraham  is  related  in  vr.  8,  while  in  vr.  22  of  the 
same  we  have  the  inquiry  which  Rebekah  made  of  Jehovah 
(probably  by  means  of  Abraham  himself)  with  regard  to  her  un- 
born children,  15  years  before  the  death  of  Abraham.  There  i3 
nothing,  therefore,  in  the  history  to  indicate  that,  on  this  oc- 
casion, Jacob  and  Esau,  were  more  than  youths,  or  that  Rebekah 
was  more  than  50  or  60  years  of  age.  Isaac  was  40  years  old  when 
he  married  Rebekah,  and  was  60  when  the  boys  were  born.  Ch. 
25:  20,  26. 

Although  Isaac  left  his  place  of  residence  to  go  down  into 
Egypt,  Jehovah  stopped  him  in  Gerar,  and  told  him  not  to  go 
there,  but  to  dwell  in  the  land  which  he  would  tell  him  of;  which 
was  in  fact  the  same  place  where  he  then  was.  He  promised  to 
be  with  him  and  bless  him;  and  he  confirmed  to  him  one  by  one 
the  identical  promises  made  to  Abraham  and  his  seed;  showing 
him  these  great  and  distinguishing  favors  on  account  of  the 
obedience  and  fidelity  of  his  father  Abraham. 


312  GENESIS 

26:  6 — 11.    ISAAC  IN  gerar;  where,  in  imitation  of  his  father,  in 

THIS    SAME   CITY,    HE    DENIES    EEBEKAH    HIS    WIFE.       (Of    Uncertain 

date.) 

6  And  Isaac  dwelt  in  Gerar : 

7  and  the  men  of  tlie  place  asked  him  of  his  wife;  and  he  said, 
She  is  my  sister :  for  he  feared  to  say,  My  wife ;  lest,  said  he,  the  men 
of  the  place  should  kill  me  for  Rebekah ;  because  she  was  fair  to  look 
upon. 

8  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  be  had  been  there  a  long  time,  that 
Abimelech  king  of  the  Philistines  looked  out  at  a  window,  and  saw, 
and,  behold,  Isaac  was  sporting  with  Rebekah  his  wife. 

9  And  Abimelech  called  Isaac,  and  said.  Behold,  of  a  surety  she  is 
thy  wife:  and  how  saidst  thou.  She  is  my  sister?  And  Isaac  said 
unto  him.  Because  I  said.  Lest  I  die  because  of  her. 

10  And  Abimelech  said.  What  is  this  thou  hast  done  unto  us? 
one  of  the  people  might  easily  have  lain  with  thy  wife,  and  thou 
wouldst  have  brought  guiltiness  upon  us. 

11  And  Abimelech  charged  all  the  people,  saying.  He  that  touch- 
eth  this  man  or  his  wife  shall  surely  be  put  to  death. 

It  is  evident  from  vr.  8  that  Isaac  remained  a  long  while  in 
Gerar,  before  he  departed  thence  to  encamp  in  "the  valley  of 
Gerar"  (vr.  17) ;  where  he  remained  a  much  longer  time,  in  spite 
of  the  persistent  hostility  of  the  Philistines  (removing  from  one 
point  to  another),  before  finally  "he  went  up  from  thence  to  Beer- 
Bheba,"  vr.  23.  It  seems,  then,  that  it  was  during  his  life  in  the 
city,  and  before  he  withdrew  to  the  valley  of  Gerar,  that  Isaac 
observed  that  the  beauty  of  his  wife  might  compromise  his  inter- 
ests and  even  endanger  his  life.  "The  men  of  the  place  asked  him 
of  his  wife";  a  thing  which  caused  him  annoyance  and  concern. 
The  Hebrew  text  does  not  say  that  they  asked  Mm,  and  therefore 
"him"  (in  the  A.  V.  and  M.  S.  V.)  is  printed  in  italics.  It  Is 
probable  that  the  extraordinary  beauty  of  the  woman  came  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  public  and  was  a  matter  of  common  town  talk, 
until  at  last  they  asked  him  as  to  the  relations  which  subsisted 
between  the  two.  Whether  it  was  that  Rebekah  neglected  the 
counsel  which  the  former  king  Abimelech  had  given  to  her  mother- 
in-law,  Sarah  (ch.  20:  16),  or  whether  it  was  that  the  fame  of  her 
beauty  supplied  the  lack  of  sight,  the  certainty  is  that  the  rare 
comeliness  of  the  woman  put  in  motion  the  tongues  of  the  men 
of  Gerar.  Abraham  anticipated  the  questions  they  might  ask  aS 
to  Sarah,  saying  beforehand  that  she  was  his  sister;  Isaac  felt 
that  he  was  in  a  still  nearer  peril,  because  the  inquiries  they 
were  already  making  about  his  wife  (see  comment  on  ch.  18:  9) 
revealed  clearly  the  dangers  that  were  surrounding  him.  Taking 
counsel  of  his  fears,  then,  instead  of  his  God,  Isaac  betook  him- 
self to  the  same  expedient  his  father  had  made  use  of  in  this 
very  city  of  Gerar,  of  which  no  doubt  he  had  intelligence,  and 


CHAPTER  26:  6—11  313 

said:  "She  is  my  sister."  It  is  evident  that  the  woman  was  at- 
tracting more  attention  than  was  convenient  or  safe,  and  that  the 
reply  (or  replies)  of  Isaac  was  well  known,  since  Abimelech  the 
king  was  fully  aware  of  it.  It  happened  therefore,  one  day,  dur- 
ing the  long  abode  of  Isaac  in  Gerar,  that  looking  out  of  a  win- 
dow, which  gave  him  a  view  of  the  tent  or  the  house  of  Isaac, 
Abimelech  saw  that,  "behold!  Isaac  was  sporting  with  Rebekah." 
The  words  do  not  imply  that  he  passed  the  limits  of  modesty, 
but  they  do  imply  that  he  was  taking  liberties  with  her  that 
would  be  improper  between  brother  and  sister,  or  between  unmar- 
ried persons.  Calling  Isaac,  therefore,  he  said  that  she  was 
manifestly  his  wife  and  not  his  sister;  and  he  reproved  him  for 
the  deceit  he  had  practiced  on  them.  Isaac  excused  himself,  on 
the  ground  of  his  fear  that  they  would  kill  him  on  account  of  the 
beauty  of  his  wife.  It  would  seem  that  Abimelech  acknowledged 
in  part  that  his  fears  were  not  entirely  groundless;  and  he  was 
sure  that  the  God  of  Abraham,  who  put  in  mortal  terror  the 
former  Abimelech,  would  not  regard  with  indifference  an  offence 
committed  against  Isaac  and  his  wife;  for  he  gave  rigorous  orders 
that  whosoever  should  touch  the  man  or  his  wife  should  surely 
be  put  to  death. 

Abimelech  showed  himself  in  this  matter  the  worthy  son  of  a 
worthy  father  (ch,  20:9,  10);  and  the  horror  with  which  he 
and  his  father  looked  upon  the  crime  of  adultery,  seems  to  indi- 
cate that  the  morals  of  the  people  were  as  yet  in  a  condition 
greatly  superior  to  that  which  existed  in  the  days  of  Moses; 
when  on  account  of  their  unspeakable  abominations,  he  declared 
that  the  earth  itself  was  ready  to  vomit  out  its  inhabitants. 
Lev.  18:  3,  26—28. 

The  readiness  with  which  Isaac  fell  into  the  sin  of  his  father, 
reveals  to  us  how  much  easier  it  is  for  children  to  imitate  the 
vices  and  weaknesses  of  their  parents  than  their  virtues,  and 
how  the  sins  of  parents  are  frequently  perpetuated  in  their 
children. 

If  Abraham  and  Isaac,  who  were  powerful  princes,  had  reason 
to  fear  that  they  might  die  on  account  of  their  beautiful  wives, 
what  must  have  been  the  condition  of  the  common  people?  and 
what  security  could  any  ordinary  person  have  for  the  possession 
of  a  so  much  coveted  good?  All  the  history  of  antiquity,  and  the 
social  condition  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  actual  condition  of 
unevangelized  nations  and  peoples,  and  of  the  criminal  classes 
of  our  own  great  cities,  show  clearly  that  the  fears  entertained 
by  Abraham  and  Isaac  were  not  ill-founded;  and  it  ought  to  fill 
us  with  continual  gratitude  to  God,  that  the  direct  and  indirect 


314  GENESIS 

influence  of  the  Gospel  has  made  itself  felt  with  such  powerful 
effect  in  the  world,  that  the  man  who  has  a  beautiful  wife  has 
now  no  fear  of  dying  on  her  account,  nor  (among  peoples  formed 
under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel)  does  he  live  in  continual  appre- 
hension of  a  criminal  invasion  of  his  honor  and  the  purity  of 
his  home. 

This  danger  in  those  times  was  real  and  very  great;  but  that  in 
no  wise  excused  the  great  sin  into  which  Abraham  and   Isaac 
fell  on  account  of  their  fears,  nor  their  little  faith  in  God,  in 
those  times  of  visible  peril.     It  has  been  wisely  said: 
"The  fear  of  man  bringeth  a  snare, 
but  whoso  putteth  his  trust  in  Jehovah  shall  be  safe." 

Prov.  29:  25. 

But  while  we  censure  their  lack  of  full  confidence  in  God,  let 
us  remember  that  in  our  circumstances,  so  different  from  theirs, 
and  completely  protected  as  we  are  against  like  dangers,  we  are 
not  in  the  most  favorable  position  to  judge  of  their  case  with 
fairness  and  strict  impartiality. 

26:  12 — 22.  uncertainty  of  dates,     isaac  adds  agkicultuee  to 

THE  care  of  his  FLOCKS  AND  HERDS.      HIS  GREAT  PROSPERITY,   AND 

THE  ENVY  OF  THE  PHILISTINES.     (Of  Uncertain  date.) 

12  And  Isaac  sowed  in  that  land,  and  found  in  the  same  year  a 
hundredfold :   and  Jehovah  blessed  him. 

13  And  the  man  waxed  great,  and  grew  more  and  more  until 
he  became  very  great : 

14  and  he  had  possessions  of  flocks,  and  possessions  of  herds,  and 
a  great  household  :  and  the  Philistines  envied  him. 

15  Now  all  the  wells  which  his  father's  servants  had  digged  in  the 
days  of  Abraham  his  father,  the  Philistines  had  stopped,  and  filled 
with  earth. 

16  And  Abimelech  said  unto  Isaac,  Go  from  us;  for  thou  art 
much  mightier  than  we. 

17  And  Isaac  departed  thence,  and  encamped  in  the  valley  of 
Gerar,  and  dwelt  there. 

18  And  Isaac  digged  again  the  wells  of  water,  which  they  had 
digged  in  the  days  of  Abraham  his  father;  for  the  Philistines  had 
stopped  them  after  the  death  of  Abraham  :  and  he  called  their  names 
after  the  names  by  which  his  father  had  called  them, 

19  And  Isaac's  servants  digged  in  the  valley,  and  found  there  a 
well  of  springing*  water. 

20  And  the  herdsmen  of  Gerar  strove  with  Isaac  s  herdsmen,  say- 
ing, The  water  is  ours:  and  he  called  the  name  of  the  well  Esek.f 
because  they  contended  with  him. 

21  And  they  digged  another  well,  and  they  strove  for  that  also; 
and  he  called  the  name  of  it  Sitnah.J 

22  And  he  removed  from  thence,  and  digged  another  well ;  and  for 
that  they  strove  not:  and  he  called  the  name  of  it  Rehoboth:l|  and 
he  said,  For  now  Jehovah  hath  made  room  for  us,  and  we  shall  be 
fruitful  in  the  land. 

*Hcb.  living.  iThat  is,  enmity. 

^That  is,  contention.  \\That  is.  Room. 


CHAPTER  26:  12—22  315 

The  little  security  that  we  have  as  to  the  chronological  dates 
given  in  our  Bibles  (excepting  certain  determined  epochs)  is 
seen  here  in  the  fact  that  all  this  chapter  goes  in  our  Bibles  under 
the  date  of  "1804  B.  C",  whereas  it  is  certain  that  its  contents  em- 
brace a  period  of  several  years,  if  not  of  many  years.  We  have 
here,  (1)  the  long  residence  of  Isaac  in  Gerar,  vr.  8;  (2)  his 
residence  in  the  country  near  to  the  city,  where  he  sowed  the 
lands  and  reaped  a  prodigious  harvest;  (3)  "he  went  from  there, 
rudely  sent  away  by  Abimelech,  and  encamped  in  the  valley  of 
Gerar,  and  dwelt  there"  (vr.  17) — a  word  which  signifies  long 
residence  in  a  given  place;  (4)  the  envy  of  the  Philistines,  who 
contended  with  him  for  the  wells  he  had  dug,  and  obliged  him 
to  break  up  camp  and  dig  new  wells, — a  thing  that  was  several 
times  repeated,  he  digging  new  wells,  and  reopening  ''■all  the 
wells  which  the  servants  of  his  father  had  dug,"  (vr.  15)  in  this 
same  valley  of  Gerar,  "which  the  Philistines,  after  the  death 
of  his  father  Abraham,  had  stopped,  filling  them  with  earth"; 
"and  he  gave  them  the  same  names  which  his  father  had  given 
them."  Vrs.  15 — 18.  "All  the  wells"  would  be  at  least  four, 
while  Isaac  himself  dug  three  besides,  to  which  he  gave  names 
of  his  own.  And  all  this,  before  he  at  last  left  those  contentious 
folk,  "and  went  up  thence  to  Beersheba"  (vr.  23),  going  higher 
up  the  valley.  There  Abimelech  made  him  a  visit,  at  the  time 
that  he  was  digging  still  another  well — the  eighth;  the  largest 
number  of  wells  we  hear  of  as  dug  by  any  one  man;  at  a  time 
when  the  digging  of  wells  was  the  work  of  princes  (see  comments 
on  ch.  21:  25,  30),  and  when  the  finding  of  abundant  waters  was 
the  occasion  of  general  rejoicings: 

"Then  sang  Israel  this  song: 

Spring  up,  oh  well;   sing  ye  unto  it! 

the  well  which  the  princes  digged, 

which  the  nobles  of  the  people  delved, 

with  their  staves,  by  order  of  the  lawgiver"  (M.  S.  V.). 

Num.  21:  17,  18. 
Isaac  was  the  most  famous  digger  of  wells  of  whom  we  have 
notice  in  the  Bible;  and  they  are  all  mentioned  in  this  chapter. 
If  he  had  occupied  10  or  15  years  in  this,  it  would  not  be  sur- 
prising: that  he  should  have  dug  them  all  in  the  year  1804  B.  C, 
is  altogether  incredible. 

When  Isaac  departed  from  Gerar,  or  perhaps  while  still  re- 
siding there,  he  added  agriculture  to  the  care  of  his  numerous 
flocks  and  herds  of  cattle.  Undoubtedly  Abraham  and  Jacob 
also  gave  some  attention  to  agriculture,  although  we  have  no 
mention  of  it;  but  the  fact  we  have  here  mentioned  seems  to  in- 


316  GENESIS 

dlcate  that  Isaac  began  the  work  on  a  large  scale;  and  through 
the  blessing  of  Jehovah  the  product  of  his  labors  was  great.  The 
circumstance  that  the  man  enriched  himself  extraordinarily  as  the 
result  of  his  new  enterprise,  manifests  that  he  continued  at  it  for 
many  years,  besides  that  first  year  in  which  Jehovah  gave  him 
the  return  of  a  hundred  for  one.  This  astonishing  increase  of 
his  wealth  in  the  land  of  the  Philistines  provoked  their  envy 
to  such  a  degree  that  he  had  to  remove  from  place  to  place, 
digging  new  wells,  or  opening  afresh  the  wells  dug  by  his  father, 
which  the  Philistines  had  filled  with  earth  after  his  death;  a 
thing  they  would  not  have  dared  to  do  during  the  life  of  Abra- 
ham; which  places  in  clear  relief  the  fact  that  Isaac  had  com- 
pletely lost  the  ascendency  which  his  father  had  among  those 
Canaanites.  His  prosperity  was  too  great  for  a  man  who  was 
cordially  disliked,  and  who  was  of  a  weak  and  irresolute  char- 
acter. After  Isaac  had  given  up  one  well  after  another  to  the 
contentious  Philistines,  Abimelech,  who  regarded  him  as  a 
troublesome  guest  in  his  land,  said  to  him  plainly:  "Go  from 
us,  for  thou  art  much  mightier  than  we!"  Vr.  16.  This  was 
probably  an  exaggeration,  and  served  only  as  a  pretext  for  send- 
ing him  rudely  away  (vr.  27) ;  but  in  any  case  it  shows  us 
how  vast  was  the  encampment  of  Isaac,  and  how  large  was  the 
number  of  his  people.  Compare  another  exaggeration  in  Ex.  1: 
9,  spoken  by  Pharaoh  with  like  intent:  "The  people  of  the 
children  of  Israel  are  more  and  mightier  than  we." 

"A  well  of  living  waters,"  in  vr.  19,  is  an  expression  difficult 
to  explain,  regarded  as  a  distinctive  mark  of  this  particular  well. 
Because  all  the  eight  wells  Isaac  had  dug,  or  opened  anew,  since 
they  were  not  cisterns  of  water,  were  wells  of  "springing  water." 
The  Jews,  nevertheless,  used  the  word  "living  water"  for  "run- 
ning water"  (Comp.  John  4:  11) ;  and  it  is  possible  that  this  par- 
ticular well  was  distinguished  from  the  rest  by  the  force  and 
abundance  with  which  the  water,  when  they  struck  it,  leaped 
upward;  or  perhaps  the  well  was  of  little  depth,  and  the  water, 
after  filling  it,  overflowed  in  great  abundance. 

On  digging  his  last  well  in  the  pasture  lands  of  Abimelech,  the 
Philistines  did  not  contend  for  it;  and  for  this  reason  he  gave 
it  the  name  of  Rehoboth  (=Room;  16  miles  to  the  south  of 
Beersheba),  saying  "Because  Jehovah  hath  made  room  for  us, 
and  we  shall  be  fruitful  in  the  land."  Vr.  22.  We  infer  from  this 
that  Isaac  intended  to  remain  much  time  there.  This  well  still 
remains  in  Rehoboth,  strengthened  with  works  of  masonry  of 
Immense  proportions  and  of  very  great  antiquity.  It  is  believed 
that  it  is  the  same  well  which  Isaac  dug.     But  the  country  is 


CHAPTER  26:  23—25  317 

now  a  complete  desert — a  Sahara;  showing  how  much  it  has 
changed  since  the  time  when  Isaac  expected  to  "be  fruitful  in 
that  land." 

26:  23 — 25.     in  beersheba  jehovah  appears  to  him  again,  and 
TRANQUiLizES  HIS  FEARS.     (Of  Uncertain  date.) 

23  And  he  went  up  from  thence  to  Beer-sheba. 

24  And  Jehovah  appeared  unto  him  the  same  night,  and  said,  I 
am  the  God  of  Abraham  thy  father  :  fear  not,  for  I  am  with  thee, 
and  will  bless  thee,  and  multiply  thy  seed  for  my  servant  Abraham's 
sake. 

25  And  he  builded  an  altar  there,  and  called  upon  the  name  of 
Jehovah,  and  pitched  his  tent*  there :  and  there  Isaac's  servants 
digged  a  well. 

*M.  S.  r.,  his  tents. 

Although  Isaac  had  named  his  last  well  "Rehoboth,"  because 
the  Philistines  had  no  dispute  with  him  about  it,  and  although 
he  had  promised  himself  "to  be  fruitful  in  that  land,"  yet  when 
least  we  expect  it  "he  went  up  from  thence  to  Beersheba."  This 
circumstance,  taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  "Jehovah 
appeared  to  him  that  same  nia;ht,  and  said  to  him:  I  am  the 
God  of  Abraham  thy  father;  fear  not  for  I  am  with  thee,"  is 
enough  to  satisfy  us  that  at  last  something  unlooked  for  happened 
which  not  only  made  him  break  up  his  encampment,  but  filled  his 
heart  with  apprehension,  if  not  with  alarm.  Abraham,  Isaac  and 
Paul  (Comp.  ch.  15:  1  and  Acts  27:  24)  give  us  examples  of  how 
God  was  wont  to  improve  times  of  danger  and  anxiety  to  make 
to  his  servants  tranquilizing  revelations  of  his  presence  and 
his  blessing. 

It  would  be  dilBcult  to  acquit  Isaac  of  the  charge  of  timidity; 
and  however  exaggerated  may  have  been  the  allegation  of 
Abimelech:  "Thou  art  much  mightier  than  we"  (vr.  IG),  we 
cannot  understand  how  he  should  give  up  one  well  after  another, 
six  or  seven  consecutively,  except  by  the  admission  that  there 
was  in  him  a  timidity  which  verged  on  cowardice.  From  Abra- 
ham these  same  warlike  Philistines  had  once  taken  by  force  his 
well  at  Beersheba,  25  miles  from  Gerar;  and  Abraham  in  the 
interest  of  peace  had  submitted  for  some  time  to  the  injustice 
done;  but  always  with  a  purpose  of  complaining  to  the  king 
of  the  country,  and  recovering  what  was  his.  See  ch.  21:  25,  etc. 
"A  great  prince  {Heb.  a  prince  of  God)  art  thou  in  the  midst  of 
us"  (ch.  23:  6),  expresses  well  the  respect  and  deference  with 
which  this  great  man  inspired  all  who  had  anything  to  do  with 
him.  But  Isaac  was  of  a  different  temper  and  disposition;  and  it 
would  seem  that  the  Philistines  regarded  with  some  contempt 
the  numerical  force  which  he  had  at  his  command,  in  view  of  the 


318  GENESIS 

weakness  and  vacillation  of  the  hand  which  grasped  the  sword. 
Isaac  was  not  only  pacific,  extremely  pacific,  but  he  was  of  a  weak 
and  irresolute  character;  and  doubtless  he  must  have  gone  away 
from  Rehoboth  intimidated  and  troubled,  for  Jehovah  to  appear 
at  once  to  him,  "that  same  night,"  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
speaking  to  him  the  tranquilizing  words  that  we  have  quoted, 
and  to  assure  him  anew  of  his  part  in  the  blessings  promised  to 
his  father  Abraham.  It  is  no  small  consolation  for  us  to  know 
that  in  the  love  and  esteem  of  God,  there  was  place  not  only  for 
the  magnanimous  Abraham,  but  for  the  weak  and  timid  Isaac. 

In  this  paragraph  we  read  for  the  first  and  last  time  of 
Isaac's  building  an  altar  to  Jehovah.  It  would  be  unjust  to  infer 
from  this  that  it  was  the  first  and  only  time  that  Isaac  offered 
sacrifice,  and  made  public  confession  and  adoration  of  Jehovah. 
The  four  several  times  that  Abraham  is  said  to  have  built  an 
altar  to  Jehovah  are  enough  to  give  us  to  understand  that 
wherever  he  pitched  his  tent,  there  also  he  had  his  altar.  It  is 
therefore  much  more  probable  that  it  was  the  manner,  character 
and  object  of  this  revelation  with  which  Jehovah  favored  hia 
servant,  and  the  juncture  at  which  he  granted  it,  which  called 
for  this  special  commemoration  of  building  an  altar  to  Jehovah, 
and  its  mention  in  this  place. 

Two  things  strike  us  here  as  strange:  1st.  That  Isaac  should 
dig  a  well  in  Beersheba,  a  place  which  had  taken  its  name 
(=Well  of  the  oath)  from  the  oath  which  Abraham  and  Abime- 
lech  had  there  mutually  pledged  to  each  other  many  years  before, 
and  where  Abimelech  accepted  seven  ewe  lambs  in  witness  that 
Abraham  had  dug  that  well  (ch.  21:  30,  31);  and  2nd.  That  he 
should  build  an  altar  where  Abraham,  in  his  very  long  residence 
near  this  well,  was  accustomed  to  call  upon  the  name  of  Jehovah, 
under  the  shade  of  his  grove  (ch.  21:  33),  and  where  necessarily 
he  had  built  his  altar.  It  is  still  more  notable  that  in  virtue  of 
the  oath  which  he  and  Abimelech  made  there,  Isaac  should  give 
to  his  well  the  same  name  of  Beersheba,  which  Abraham  had 
given  it  nearly  100  years  before.  The  readiest  explanation  of  it, 
and  probably  the  most  correct  and  satisfactory,  is  that  the 
herdsmen  of  Gerar  claimed  all  this  country  as  their  pasture  lands 
(ch.  21:  25),  and  even  Rehoboth,  16  miles  farther  south  (vr.  22) ; 
and  as  they  were  envious  of  Isaac  and  hated  him,  they  not  only 
stopped  all  the  wells  that  Abraham  had  dug  in  the  valley  of 
Gerar,  but  this  of  Beersheba  also  (in  the  same  valley),  in  spite 
of  the  oath  of  peace  which  had  been  made  there;  and  that  as 
hatred  and  envy  was  the  cause  of  all  this,  they  not  only  filled 
the    well    with    earth,    but    perhaps    also    cut    down    his    grove 


CHAPTER  26:  26—33  319 

(which  is  not  mentioned  any  more),  and  threw  down  his  altar. 
In  vr.  18  we  are  told,  in  regard  to  the  wells  of  his  father  which 
Isaac  opened  again,  that  he  gave  them  the  same  names  that  his 
father  had  given  them.  This  will  perfectly  explain  the  case  we 
have  here. 

26:  26 — 33.    abimelech  makes  a  covenant  of  peace  with  isaac 
IN  BEEBSHEBA.     (Of  Uncertain  date.) 

26  Then  Abimelech  went  to  him  from  Gerar,  and  Ahuzzath  his 
friend,  and  Phicol  the  captain  of  his  host. 

27  And  Isaac  said  unto  them,  Wherefore  are  ye  come  unto  me, 
seeing  ye  hate  me,  and  have  sent  me  away  from  you? 

28  And  they  said.  We  saw  plainly  that  Jehovah  was  with  thee  : 
and  we  said,  Let  there  now  be  an  oath  betwixt  us,  even  betwixt  us 
and  thee,  and  let  us  make  a  covenant  with  thee, 

29  that  thou  wilt  do  us  no  hurt,  as  we  have  not  touched  thee,  and 
as  we  have  done  unto  thee  nothing  but  goo  J,  and  have  sent  thee  away 
in  peace  :  thou  art  now  the  blessed  of  ifehovah. 

30  And  he  made  them  a  feast,  and  they  did  eat  and  drink. 

31  And  they  rose  up  betimes  in  the  morning,  and  sware  one  to 
another :  and  Isaac  sent  them  away,  and  they  departed  from  him 
in  peace. 

32  And  it  came  to  pass  the  same  day,  that  Isaac's  servants  came, 
and  told  him  concerning  the  well  which  they  had  digged,  and  said 
unto  him.  We  have  found  water, 

:^3  And  he  called  it  Shibah :  therefore  the  name  of  the  city  is 
Beer-sheba  unto  this  day. 

Eighty  or  ninety  years  before,  according  to  the  common  chro- 
nology, when  Isaac  was  still  a  little  boy,  this  same  scene  was 
witnessed  in  this  very  place.  Of  the  participants  in  that  trans- 
action, Phicol,  captain  of  Abimelech's  army,  alone  remains. 
Abimelech  (who  for  convenience  we  shall  call  Abimelech  I,  call- 
ing Abimelech  II  this  contemporary  of  Isaac),  had  of  course 
died;  because  he  was  so  old  a  man  that  he  had  desired  to  marry 
Sarah,  who  was  at  that  time  nearly  90  years  of  age;  so  that  it  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  he  was  still  alive  and  vigorous.  This 
Abimelech,  probably  the  son  of  the  former,  presents  himself  with 
a  friend  of  his  who  under  every  point  of  view  is  a  new  character 
— '"Ahuzzath  his  friend,"  who  comes  in  here  to  give  us  informa- 
tion as  to  Abimelech  himself.  Valera  says:  "his  friend,"  and 
the  English  Version  says:  "one  of  his  friends."  mistaking  the 
form  of  the  word.  The  R.  V.  says  "Ahuzzath  his  friend,"  giving 
us  to  understand  that  the  word  is  used  in  a  special  or  technical 
sense,  to  indicate  probably  "the  friend  of  the  bridegroom"  in  a 
marriage  festivity  (John  3:  29);  we  therefore  infer  that  Abime- 
lech was  young  and  recently  married,  and  that  the  chief  of  his 
companions  on  this  occasion  was  this  Ahuzzath.  The  history  of 
Samson  makes  it  all  plain  to  us;  and  both  events  happened  among 
these    same    Philistines.      In    Samson's    marriage    feast,    "they 


320  GENESIS 

brought  him  thirty  companions  to  be  with  him";  but  among  these 
thirty  there  was  one  only  who  was  called  by  pre-eminence  hi3 
"companion"  and  "his  friend"  (Judges  14:11,  20;  15:2);  and 
when  in  an  access  of  rage,  Samson  rudely  broke  up  the  feast, 
and  "burning  in  anger  went  up  to  his  father's  house,"  "the  wife 
of  Samson  was  given  to  his  companion,  who  had  been  his 
friend."  Judges  14:  19,  20.  To  the  same  custom  John  the 
Baptist  alludes,  when  he  compares  himself  "to  the  friend  of  the 
bridegroom  who  standeth  and  heareth  him."  John  3:  29.  In  the 
Greek  translation  of  the  LXX,  Ahuzzath  is  called  the  "nuvipha- 
gogos"  of  Abimelech;  that  is  to  say  the  friend  of  the  bridegroom, 
who  presented  to  him  the  bride.  I  believe  that  little  or  nothing 
is  now  lacking  to  prove  that  Abimelech  was  young  and  recently 
married,  and  that  Ahuzzath  was  his  chief  wedding  companion, 
his  "best  man,"  according  to  an  Americanism  of  recent  coinage, 
or  his  "padrino  de  boda,"  according  to  Spanish  usage.  Phicol,  if 
he  were  young  on  the  former  occasion,  might  be  the  same  person 
mentioned  here;  or  more  probably  he  was  another  person  of  the 
same  name. 

With  this  accompaniment,  and  doubtless  with  soldiers  also  at 
the  orders  of  their  "captain,"  Abimelech  came  to  visit  Isaac;  who 
received  him  with  coldness:  "Wherefore  are  ye  come  unto  me, 
seeing  ye  hate  me,  and  have  sent  me  away  from  you?"  All 
which  manifests  that  their  separation  had  been  marked  by  vio- 
lence and  ill-will.  It  is  difficult  to  penetrate  the  true  feelings 
and  purposes  of  the  Orientals,  who  always  speak  with  reserve, 
disguising  the  true  object  they  have  in  view,  and  doing  every- 
thing by  indirection.  In  the  case  of  Abraham,  it  is  easy  to  dis- 
cern it;  because  there  was  to  be  arranged  that  question  of  the 
well  which  the  Philistines  had  taken  from  him  by  force  (ch.  21: 
21,  25) ;  but  in  the  case  of  Isaac  we  can  see  nothing  which  should 
influence  Abimelech,  except  a  prudent  desire  to  ward  off  the 
possible  effect  of  the  repeated  injustices  they  had  used  with  the 
head  of  a  rich  and  powerful  tribe  or  clan,  and  who  had  Jehovah 
for  his  protector;  for  although  Abimelech  neither  feared  nor 
served  Jehovah,  it  was  regarded  in  those  days  as  a  dictate  of 
ordinary  prudence,  that  while  "there  were  gods  many  and  lords 
many,"  some  of  greater  and  others  of  less  standing  and  power, 
yet  in  any  case  a  god  could  do  more  than  a  man;  and  for  this 
reason  it  was  wise  to  avoid  giving  offence  to  any  of  them.  And 
thus,  in  spite  of  the  ill-treatment  they  had  given  Isaac,  with 
cool  Oriental  effrontery  they  answer  him:  "We  plainly  saw  that 
Jehovah  was  with  thee;  and  we  said:  Let  there  be  now  an  oath 
betwixt  us,  even  betwixt  us  and  thee,  and  let  us  make  a  covenant 


CHAPTER  26:  26—33  321 

with  thee;  that  thou  wilt  do  us  no  hurt,  as  we  have  not  touched 
thee,  and  as  we  have  done  unto  thee  nothing  hut  good,  and  have 
sent  thee  away  in  peace:  thou  art  now  the  blessed  of  Jehovah!" 
(vrs.  28,  29), — words  of  flattery,  designed  to  cover  up  hatred. 
Isaac  made  them  a  feast,  which  according  to  the  usage  of  the 
Old  Testament  was  always  accompanied  with  a  sacrifice;  and 
with  this  sacrifice  it  is  probable  that  they  celebrated  {Heh.  cut) 
the  covenant  asked  by  Abimelech,  according  to  the  rites  already 
described  in  ch.  15:  9—18;  21:  32. 

So  they  ate,  and  drank,  and  slept;  and  "they  rose  up  betimes 
in  the  morning  and  sware  one  to  another."  Thus  Isaac  sent 
them  away,  and  they  departed  from  him  in  peace.  The  same  day 
was  also  notable  on  account  of  the  good  news  his  servants  brought 
to  Isaac  with  regard  to  a  well  they  had  digged,  saying:  "We 
have  found  water!"  To  this  well  Isaac  gave  the  same  expressive 
name  "Beersheba"  (=:Well  of  the  oath),  which  Abraham  gave  to 
his  own  on  a  similar  occasion,  80  years  or  more  before:  it  may 
be  that  it  was  the  same  well  of  Abraham,  which  the  Philistines 
had  stopped.  At  the  present  time  there  are  two  extremely  old 
wells  in  Beersheba  (see  comment  of  ch.  21:  22 — 32)  300  yards 
apart,  the  larger  of  which  is  12 1^  feet  in  diameter,  and  the  lesser 
5,  in  great  part  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  and  abundant  in  the  best 
of  water.  Dr.  Edward  Robinson  believes  that  the  larger  of  the 
two  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  be  the  famous  well  of  Abra- 
ham, dug  almost  4000  years  ago.  When  the  second  was  dug, 
we  have  no  way  of  finding  out;  nor  can  we  conceive  why  the 
smaller  well  should  have  been  dug  at  a  distance  of  300  yards  from 
the  former,  when  either  of  the  two  is  so  abundant  in  water.  It 
is  possible  that  the  second  is  that  which  Isaac  dug,  while  the 
former  was  still  stopped;  or  if  the  two  are  wells  of  Abraham,  it 
may  be  supposed  that  when  the  Philistines  violently  took  away 
the  former,  and  while  the  question  was  in  waiting  to  be  arranged 
by  the  king  of  the  country,  Abraham  dug  the  second  in  the  inter- 
ests of  peace,  rather  than  measure  his  strength  with  those  quar- 
relsome and  warlike  Philistines.  The  locality  still  bears  the 
same  name  in  Arabic  form,  "Bir  es-  Seba,"  and  there  are  yet 
found  there  the  scattered  remains  of  the  city  which  at  one  time 
stood  upon  the  high  ground  to  the  north  of  the  wells.  Robinson's 
Biblical  Researches,  Vol.  1  pp.  300,  301.  Dr.  Robinson  sought  in 
vain  for  Rehoboth,  the  well  which  Isaac  dug;  but  since  then  it 
has  been  found,  preserving  still  its  old  name  in  Arabic  form,  16 
miles  to  the  south  of  Beersheba;  12  feet  in  diameter,  but  so 
covered  and  filled  with  earth  and  rubbish  that  it  was  with  dif- 
ficulty found.     The  work  of  masonry  is  the  most  massive  that 


322  GENESIS 

exists  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  bears  evidence  of  being  as 
old   as  the  days  of   Isaac:    it  is  called  today   "er- Ru- heibeh." 
Schaff' s  Bible  Dictionary. 

26:  34,  35.    the  double  marriage  of  esau.     (1796  b.  c.) 

34  And  when  Esau  was  forty  years  old  he  took  to  wife  Judith 
the  daughter  of  Beeri  the  Hittite,  and  Basemath  the  daughter  of  Elon 
the  Hittite:  „  ,    ,    , 

35  and  they  were  a  grief  of  mind  unto  Isaac  and  to  Rebekah. 

The  commentator  Bush  believes  that  after  arranging  terms  of 
peace  with  Abimelech  (vr.  31),  Isaac  enjoyed  a  period  of  delicious 
calm  for  18  years,  of  which  we  have  no  notice  whatever,  until  his 
domestic  peace  was  again  disturbed  by  the  wilfulness  of  his 
favorite  son.  It  would  seem  that  Esau  took  two  wives  at  once, 
and  presented  them  together,  or  with  little  difference  of  time,  in 
the  encampment  of  his  father;  because  he  was  forty  years  old 
when  he  married  both  of  them.  They  were  probably  daughters 
of  Canaanite  princes;  an  alliance  by  which  Esau  sought  to  in- 
crease and  extend  his  worldly  importance; — something  diametri- 
cally opposed  to  the  purpose  of  God  in  calling  for  himself  the  seed 
of  Abraham,  and  separating  them  from  the  other  nations.  They 
were  Hittites,  and  perhaps  from  Hebron,  which  was  a  Hittite 
city,  and  whose  princes  are  called  the  sons  of  Heth,  in  ch.  23: 
3,  10,  18;  the  city  where  Abraham  resided  so  many  years,  and 
where  he  and  Sarah  his  wife  were  buried. 

The  worldly-minded  Esau,  who  had  already  sold  his  birthright 
for  a  mess  of  pottage,  little  cared  with  whom  he  married,  pro- 
vided it  was  to  his  satisfaction.  Abraham,  imbued  with  the  re- 
ligious spirit,  and  animated  with  the  Messianic  hope  (things 
about  which  Esau  did  not  concern  himself),  with  great  solicitude 
took  care  that  Isaac  should  not  marry  a  Canaanitish  woman;  and 
Isaac  and  Rebekah  manifested  the  same  solicitude  with  regard  to 
the  marriage  of  Jacob.  Ch.  27:  46;  28:  1,  2.  This  was  not  only, 
nor  principally  (as  some  would  represent  it),  a  zeal  to  keep  their 
blood  pure  and  without  mixture;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  was 
that  if  their  sons  married  the  daughters  of  the  heathen  Canaan- 
ites,  in  the  midst  of  whom  they  lived,  they  would  soon  lose  the 
traditions  of  their  family,  with  every  trace  of  that  heavenly 
vocation  with  which  Jehovah  had  called  to  himself  Abraham  and 
his  seed,  in  order  that  they  should  be  to  him  a  people  of  his  ex- 
clusive possession.  From  what  happened  with  Ishmael  and  the 
sons  of  Keturah,  and  from  what  happened  with  Esau,  the  first- 
born of  Isaac  and  Rebekah,  it  is  easy  for  us  to  imagine  what 
would  have  been  the  result  if  Isaac  and  Jacob  had  married  women 


CHAPTER  26:  34,    35  323 

of  the  same  class.  Humanly  speaking  there  was  no  reason  why 
all  the  sons  of  Abraham,  including  the  sons  of  his  two  concubines, 
should  not  have  "entered  into  the  bond  of  the  covenant"  (of 
which,  with  their  circumcision,  they  received  the  seal),  the  same 
as  all  the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob  (four  of  whom  were  the  children 
of  his  concubines,  Bilah  and  Zilpah),  except  the  influence  of  the 
Egyptian  mother  and  wife  of  Ishmael  and  the  uncongenial  spirit 
of  the  sons  of  Keturah,  married  probably  with  Canaanitish  women 
before  their  father  separated  them  from  Isaac,  and  sent  them 
away  toward  the  East:  and  so  they  all  became  "strangers  from 
the  covenants  of  the  promise."  Eph.  2:  12.  There  was  in  Itself 
no  reason  why  the  two  sons  of  Isaac,  both  of  them,  should 
not  have  at  once  begun  to  form  the  lineage  of  Abraham  to 
whom  pertained  the  promises,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  wilful 
and  worldly  temper  of  Esau,  completely  foreign  to  the  Messianic 
spirit;  for  whom  nothing  was  worth  anything  which  did  not  bring 
him  immediate  satisfaction,  and  in  whose  esteem  the  great 
promises  made  to  Abraham  were  not  worth  a  thought.  He  com- 
menced by  selling  his  birthright  to  satisfy  his  hunger,  and  after- 
wards to  please  himself  he  married  two  daughters  of  Canaan 
whom  he  had  close  at  hand,  and  who  suited  his  fancy.  It  is 
worthy  of  our  attention  that  the  pleasure  and  satisfaction  of 
those  two  marriages  was  purely  for  himself.  He  did  not  even 
consult  his  parents,  nor  ask  their  intervention  in  the  matter, 
according  to  the  use  of  the  time  and  country.  They  were  not 
even  good  and  amiable  as  Canaanites;  for  the  text  informs  U3 
that  they  were  "a  grief  of  mind  to  Isaac  and  Rebekah." 

Would  to  God  that  our  evangelicals  would  fix  attention  on 
the  example  of  Esau,  whose  gentile  wives,  totally  foreign  to 
the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  calling  of  Abraham  and  his  seed, 
speedily  made  an  end  in  his  case  of  all  the  holy  traditions  and 
aspirations  of  the  family  of  Abraham!  A  race  of  utter  heathens 
is  what  they  produced;  and  the  Idumeans,  children  of  Esau, 
pagans  out  and  out,  were  always  the  implacable  enemies  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  and  figure  in  the  mouth  of  the  prophets 
as  the  type  par  excellence  of  the  enemies  of  the  true  God  and 
of  his  cause  and  people;  until  at  last  what  remained  of  them 
allied  themselves  with  the  famous  son  of  Ishmael,  the  false 
prophet,  whose  device  was  and  is:  "There  is  no  God  but  God, 
and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet!" — "Mohammed  first,  and  after 
him  the  sen  of  Mary!"  From  Esau  let  those  evangelicals  take 
warning,  who,  looking  chiefly  to  their  pleasure  and  temporal 
profit,  marry  women  of  a  worldly  spirit,  or  fanatical  enemies 
of  the  gospel,  and  so  reduce  their  religion   (if  they  have  any) 


324  GENESIS 

to  a  nullity,  while  they  bring  up  fanatical  or  wicked  children,  for 
whom  the  promises  of  God  are  not  worth  a  groat.  The  zeal 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  against  mixed  marriages  is  of 
a  very  different  quality.  True  holiness  of  life  and  the  conserva- 
tion of  the  promises  of  the  gospel,  is  what  they  are  least  con- 
cerned about;  or  better  said,  what  they  most  fear.  It  does 
not  greatly  matter  to  them  how  much  the  families  therefrom 
resulting  sin  against  the  laws  of  God,  provided  they  do  not 
Ireak  the  yoke  of  the  Priest.  Among  us.  Evangelicals,  the 
question  of  ecclesiastical  relations  is  of  comparatively  little 
importance;  that  which  is  supremely  important  is  the  knowl- 
edge and  love  of  the  word  of  God,  repentance  and  a  living  faith; 
resulting  in  "holiness,  without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord." 
Heb.  12:  14. 

How  numerous  are  the  Esaus  of  the  evangelical  fold,  who, 
born  in  the  bosom  of  Christian  families,  and  partially  educated 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  great  privileges  and  hopes  of  the 
present  and  the  coming  kingdom  of  our  God,  give  loose  rein 
to  their  passions  and  their  worldly  inclinations,  and  for  the 
shortlived  pleasures  of  sin,  disinherit  themselves  of  those  in- 
comparable blessings  to  the  inheritance  of  which  they  were  born, 
without  even  a  sigh — "even  as  Esau,  who  for  one  morsel  of  meat 
sold  his  own  birthright!"     Heb.  12:  16. 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

VBS,      1 — 29.        JACOB,      BY     FRAUD,     TAKES      AWAY     FROM     ESAU     HIS 
BLESSING.       (1776    B.    C.) 

1  .\nd  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  Isaac  was  old,  and  his  eyes  were 
dim,  so  that  he  could  not  see,  he  called  Esau  bis  elder  son,  and  said 
unto  him.  My  son ;  and  he  said  unto  him,  Here  am  I, 

2  And  he  said,  Behold  now,  I  am  old,  I  know  not  the  day  of  my 
death. 

3  Now  therefore  take,  I  pray  thee,  thy  weapons,  thy  quiver  and 
thy  bow,  and  go  out  to  the  field  and  take  me  venison ; 

4  and  make  me  savory  food,  such  as  I  love,  and  bring  it  to  me, 
that  I  may  eat ;  that  my  soul  may  bless  thee  before  I  die. 

5  And  Rebekah  heard*  when  Isaac  spake  to  Esau  his  son.  And 
Esau  went  to  the  field  to  bunt  for  venison,  and  to  bring  it. 

6  And  Rebekah  spake  unto  Jacob  her  son,  saying,  Behold,  I  heard 
thy  father  speak  unto  Esau  thy  brother,  saying, 

7  Bring  me  venison,  and  make  me  savory  food,  that  I  may  eat, 
and  bless  thee  before  Jehovah  before  my  death. 

8  Now  therefore,  my  son,  obey  my  voice  according  to  that  which 
I  command  thee. 

9  Go  now  to  the  flock,  and  fetch  me  from  thence  two  good  kids 
of  the  goats ;  and  I  will  make  them  savory  food  for  thy  father,  such 
as  he  loveth  : 

10  and  thou  shalt  bring  it  to  thy  father,  that  he  may  eat,  so  that 
he  may  bless  thee  before  his  death. 

*M.   S.    v.,   was    listening. 


CHAPTER  27:  1—29  325 

11  And  Jacob  said  to  Rebekah  his  mother,  Behold,  Esau  my 
brother  is  a  hairy  man,  and  I  am  a  smooth  man. 

12  My  father  peradventure  will  feel  me,  and  I  shall  seem  to  him 
as  a  deceiver ;  and  I  shall  bring  a  curse  upon  me,  and  not  a  blessing. 

13  And  his  mother  said  unto  him,  Upon  me  be  thy  curse,  my  son ; 
only  obey  my  voice,  and  go  fetch  me  them. 

14  And  he  went,  and  fetched,  and  brought  them  to  his  mother : 
and  his  mother  made  savory  food,  such  as  his  father  loved. 

15  And  Rebekah  took  the  goodly  garments  of  Esau  her  elder  son, 
which  were  with  her  in  the  house,  and  put  them  upon  Jacob  her 
younger  son ; 

16  and  she  put  the  skins  of  the  kids  of  the  goats  upon  his  hands, 
and  upon  the  smooth  of  his  neck : 

17  and  she  gave  the  savory  food  and  the  bread,  which  she  had 
prepared,  into  the  hand  of  her  son  Jacob. 

18  And  he  came  unto  his  father,  and  said,  My  father :  and  he  said, 
Here  am  I;  who  art  thou,  my  son? 

19  And  Jacob  said  unto  his  father,  I  am  Esau  thy  first-born ; 
I  have  done  according  as  thou  badest  me :  arise,  I  pray  thee,  sit  and 
eat  of  my  venison,  that  thy  soul  may  bless  me. 

20  And  Isaac  said  unto  his  son,  How  is  it  that  thou  hast  found  it 
60  quickly,  my  son?  And  he  said,  Because  Jehovah  thy  God  sent  me 
good  speed. 

21  And  Isaac  said  unto  Jacob,  Come  near,  I  pray  thee,  that  I  may 
feel  thee,  my  son,  whether  thou  be  my  very  son  Esau  or  not. 

22  And  Jacob  went  near  unto  Isaac  his  father ;  and  he  felt  him, 
and  said,  The  voice  is  Jacob's  voice,  but  the  hands  are  the  hands  of 
Esau. 

23  And  he  discerned  him  not,  because  his  hands  were  hairy,  as 
his  brother  Esau's  hands  :  so  he  blessed  him. 

24  And  he  said.  Art  thou  my  very  son  Esau?    And  he  said,  I  am. 

25  And  he  said,  Bring  it  near  to  me,  and  I  will  eat  of  my  son's 
venison,  that  my  soul  may  bless  thee.  And  he  brought  it  near  to 
him,  and  he  did  eat :  and  he  brought  him  wine,  and  he  drank. 

2G  And  his  father  Isaac  said  unto  him.  Come  near  now,  and  kiss 
me,  my  son. 

27  And  he  came  near,  and  kissed  him :  and  he  smelled  the  smell 
of  his  raiment,  and  blessed  him,  and  said, 

See,  the  smell  of  my  son 

Is  as  the  smell  of  a  field  which  Jehovah  hath  blessed : 
28'   And  God  give  thee  of  the  dew  of  heaven. 

And  of  the  fatness  of  the  earth, 

And  plenty  of  grain  and  new  wine : 
29     Let  peoples  serve  thee, 

And  nations  bow  down  to  thee : 

Be  lord  over  thy  brethren. 

And  let  thy  mother's  sons  bow  down  to  thee : 

Cursed  be  every  one  that  curseth  thee. 

And  blessed  be  every  one  that  blesseth  thee. 

Some  writers  maintain  that  Esau  was  39  years  old  when  he 
sold  his  birthright  to  Jacob,  one  year  before  he  married  his 
Hittite  wives.  There  are  those  also  who  maintain  that  Jacob 
married  at  the  same  age  as  Esau,  or  a  little  later;  which  would 
place  the  events  of  this  chapter,  which  gave  occasion  for  the 
flight  of  Jacob,  a  short  time  after  the  marriage  of  Esau, — 
opinions,  both  of  them,  which  make  little  account  of  the  facts 
and  the  dates  furnished  us  by  the  Bible  itself;  for  if  Jacob 
fled  to  Padan-aram  when  40  years  old,  and  20  years  later   re- 


326  GENESIS 

turned  to  Canaan  (that  is  to  say  when  CO),  and  went  down 
to  Egypt  at  130  (ch.  47:  9),  there  will  be  nothing  with  which 
to  occupy  the  70  intermediate  years;  and  it  will  be  impossible 
to  adjust  the  account  with  what  we  know  of  Joseph  and  his 
brethren.  The  commentator  Adam  Clarke  places  the  marriage 
of  Esau  about  1804  B.  C;  and  the  trick  by  which  Jacob  robbed 
him  of  the  blessing,  he  puts  at  1779  B.  C.  (that  is  to  say  24 
years  after  the  marriage  of  Esau;  a  time  at  which  the  two 
brothers  would  be  about  65  years  of  age).  According  to  the 
common  chronology,  given  in  the  margin  of  our  Bibles,  the 
sale  of  the  birthright  took  place  about  1805  B.  C,  when  Esau 
and  Jacob  were  about  32  years  of  age,  and  the  marriage  of 
Esau  with  his  two  Hittites,  eight  years  afterwards,  1796  B.  C; 
and  the  theft  of  his  blessing,  36  years  after  this,  in  1760 
B.  C;  that  is  44  years  after  the  sale  of  the  birthright.  In  all 
this  the  reader  will  see  the  uncertainty  of  a  large  part  of  the 
particular  dates  given  in  our  Biblical  chronology — except  in 
the  cases  where  the  text  itself  furnishes  us  the  data.  It  be- 
comes us  to  bear  always  in  mind  that  in  the  Bible,  in  common 
with  all  ancient  profane  history,  chronology  (a  point  of  so 
great  importance  to  us)  was  esteemed  of  very  little  interest, 
and  they  did  not  always  carefully  guard  even  the  chronological 
order  of  events.  It  is  surely  an  error  to  hope  to  arrange  minutely 
the  chronology  of  the  Bible  when  frequently  there  was  no 
such  order  and  arrangement  in  the  mind  of  the  writer.  The 
only  reason  I  can  see  for  supposing  that  Jacob  married  at  40 
or  50  years  of  age,  is  found  in  the  idea  that  an  old  man  of 
70  years  could  not  be  the  passionate  lover  that  Jacob  was 
of  his  beloved  Rachel.  Ch.  29:  20.  But  such  argumentation  is 
very  insecure,  and  the  age  which  they  would  assign  to  him  is 
in  complete  disagreement  with  the  subsequent  history  of  Jacob 
and  his  sons. 

We  have  already  spoken  at  considerable  length  of  the  great 
difficulties  of  the  Hebrew  chronology  {Note  12,  p.  72) ;  but 
assuming  its  correctness  in  this  case  we  have  the  following 
data  with  regard  to  Isaac  and  his  family.  The  theft  of 
Esau's  blessing  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  the  flight  of 
Jacob  to  the  house  of  Laban,  the  brother  of  his  mother;  Joseph 
was  born  14  years  after  this  date,  when  Jacob  had,  with  14 
years  of  personal  labor,  paid  the  dowry  of  his  two  wives, 
and  when  about  to  begin  the  six  years  of  service  with  which 
he  gained  his  property  (ch.  30:25,  26;  31:41);  Joseph  was 
39  years  old  when  Jacob  and  all  his  family  went  down  to  Egypt 
(ch.  41:  47;    45:  11);    and  at  this  very  juncture  (53  years  after 


CHAPTER  27:  1—29  327 

Jacob's  act  of  treachery  towards  Esau  and  his  flight  to  Padan- 
aram),  Jacob  was  130  years  old  (ch.  47:9);  and  deducting 
the  53  years  aforesaid,  it  appears  that  Jacob,  when  he  fled 
to  the  house  of  Laban,  was  76  years  old  (or  75  counting  after 
the  Jewish  manner),  35  or  36  years  after  the  marriage  of 
Esau.  As  Isaac  was  40  years  old  when  his  two  sons  were  born 
(ch.  25:  26),  he  was  at  the  time  of  Jacob's  flight  135  years 
old;  a  time  at  which,  according  to  vr.  1,  he  was  blind;  and 
as  he  died  at  the  age  of  180,  it  appears  that  he  passed  about  45 
years  in  blindness,  before  his  death. 

According  to  the  common  chronology,  then,  44  years  had 
elapsed  since  Esau  sold  his  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage. 
It  is  possible  that  there  had  passed  50  years,  or  even  more, 
for  all  that  bad  business  wears  the  appearance  of  the  follies 
of  youth,  rather  than  of  the  deportment  of  two  men  of  35 
or  40  years  of  age;  and  perhaps  Esau  considered  that  because 
the  date  was  long  since  past,  that  act  of  youthful  folly  had  by 
that  time  become  a  matter  of  little  importance.  Thus  sinners 
always  imagine  it  Is  with  their  former  sins,  of  which  they  have 
not  yet  repented; — only  because  the  distance  of  time  has  well 
nigh  blotted  out  the  remembrance  of  them.  How  forgetful  are 
they  that  in  the  book  of  the  divine  remembrance,  these,  with 
all  their  aggravating  circumstances,  are  as  fresh  and  as  clearlj' 
depicted  as  on  the  day  of  their  commission!  "They  consider 
not  in  their  hearts  that  I  remember  all  their  wickedness:  now 
have  their  own  doings  beset  them  about;  they  are  before  my 
face."    Hos.  7:  2. 

Esau  (vr.  36),  draws  a  distinction  between  the  birthright  and 
the  blessing,  and  evidently  he  dreamed  that  although  he  had 
Bold  the  former  more  than  40  years  before,  the  other  was  his, 
and  that  he  would  certainly  obtain  it  in  its  season;  a  vivid 
example  of  the  extravagant  belief  of  men,  that  the  blessing 
will  be  theirs  in  the  end,  however  long  they  persist  in  their 
"ways  of  destruction."  The  habitual  thought  of  their  mind  is: 
"7  shall  have  peace,  though  I  tcalk  in  the  stubbornness  of  my 
heart."  Deut.  29:  19.  For  us,  the  distinction  which  Esau  makes 
did  not  exist,  except  in  his  own  imagination:  the  birthright 
and  the  blessing  were  all  one,  the  latter  being  nothing  more 
than  the  public  or  official  acknowledgment  of  the  former  by 
his  father;  so  that  selling  the  birthright,  he  sold  the  blessing 
likewise.  Isaac  and  Rebekah  undoubtedly  had  knowledge  of 
the  trafl5c  which  their  elder  son  had  made  of  his  birthright, 
and  It  would  seem  that  they  shared  in  Esau's  idea  that  the 
birthright  and  the  blessing  were  separable  things,   so  that  the 


328  GENESIS 

younger  might  have  the  birthright  and  the  elder  the  blessing; 
or  if  not  (and  this  is  the  more  probable),  that  the  sale  of  the 
former  would  have  no  effect,  until  their  father  had  given  it 
validity  and  confirmation  by  the  blessing  which  was  to  fol- 
low. 

It  is  clear  that  the  two  sons  had  little  in  common.  Al- 
though children  of  the  same  birth,  they  were  totally  different 
in  disposition;  by  occupation  they  were  still  more  different. 
The  manifest  partiality  of  the  two  parents,  each  for  the  favorite 
son,  made  matters  worse  day  by  day;  the  cunning  of  Jacob 
had  taken  advantage  of  the  frank  and  rude  independence  of 
Esau,  in  order  to  rob  him  of  the  birthright;  worse  than  rob- 
bery, for  he  had  made  his  brother  to  take  part  in  his  crime; 
and  from  that  time,  a  period,  we  suppose,  of  40  or  50  years, 
the  two  would  have  less  than  ever  to  do  with  each  other;  and 
in  all  this  while  they  would  be  on  the  alert,  and  always  waiting 
to  see  to  which  of  the  two  the  confirmatory  blessing  would 
fall.  Rebekah  was  also  on  the  watch  day  and  night,  to  pre- 
vent its  happening  that  some  day  her  beloved  Jacob  would 
be  deprived  of  the  blessing,  having  already  gotten  his  brother's 
birthright.  Isaac,  weak  and  timid  by  nature,  and  old,  blind, 
incautious,  he  also  had  the  blessing  in  reserve  for  his  favorite 
son,  his  valiant  and  expert  hunter.  He  knew  well  the  divine 
oracle,  given  to  the  mother  before  the  birth  of  the  two  sons: 

"Two  nations  are  in  thy  womb, 

and  two  peoples  shall  be  separated  (=  divided)  even  from 

thy  bowels; 
and   the  one   people   shall   be   stronger   than   the   other 

people; 
and  the  elder  shall  serve  the  younger"  (ch.  25:  23) ;  — 

he  knew  it,  but  he  did  not  give  due  heed  to  it;  or  perhaps  he 
did  not  wish  to  understand  it  in  a  sense  unfavorable  to  his 
favorite  son. 

Isaac  was  old,  blind  and  sick.  He  must  necessarily  have  been 
in  greatly  impaired  health;  for  otherwise  we  cannot  conceive 
how  a  man  who  had  45  years  more  of  life  before  him,  should 
have  come  to  believe  (an  opinion  in  which  all  his  family  shared), 
that  he  had  but  a  short  time  to  live.    Vrs.  1,  41. 

Impressed  therefore  with  the  idea  that  his  life  was  soon 
to  end,  Isaac  called  his  elder  son  one  day,  and  begged  him  to 
take  his  weapons,  his  quiver  and  his  bow,  and  go  out  to  the 
field  to  hunt  some  venison  for  him,  and  make  him  savory  food 
such  as  his  father  loved;   in  order  that  he  might  eat,  and  bless 


CHAPTER  27:  1—29  329 

him  before  his  death.  This  again  reveals  to  us  the  weak  side 
of  the  poor  old  man.  In  ch.  25:  28,  the  only  reason  given  for 
the  partiality  he  had  for  his  son  Esau  is  that  "he  did  eat 
of  his  venison."  I  see  no  reason  why,  when  the  Holy  Scriptures 
speak  without  disguise  of  the  weaknesses  and  sins  of  the  saints 
of  the  ancient  times,  we  should  endeavor  to  cover  them  up, 
excuse  them,  or  extenuate  them.  On  the  contrary,  there  are 
many  reasons  why  we  should  call  things  by  their  right  names, 
and  endeavor  to  derive  from  them  the  spiritual  profit  and  the 
important  lessons,  with  a  view  to  which  they  were  written 
by  inspiration  of  God,  for  instruction  In  all  the  ages  of  the 
Church. 

Seeing  therefore  that  the  hour  so  long  waited  for  had  ar- 
rived, Esau  took  his  weapons  and  went  out  hurriedly.  But 
his  mother  was  listening  while  Isaac  talked  with  him.  The 
Hebrew  text  carefully  indicates  that  this  was  not  an  accident; 
Rebekah  "was  listening,"  with  full  intent  to  hear  what  was 
said,  and  she  saw  that  the  critical  moment  had  arrived  when, 
as  she  viewed  it,  everything  was  to  be  gained  or  lost.  Rebekah 
also  knew  the  divine  oracle,  but  like  Sarah,  in  an  evil  hour 
for  herself,  she  believed  that  (according  to  the  common  proverb 
of  those  who  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  fidelity  of  Jehovah) 
"God  helps  those  who  help  themselves,"  and  that  human  ex- 
pedients are  very  necessary  in  order  to  give  effect  to  the 
divine  promises.  See  ch.  16:  1,  2.  If  Rebekah  had  had  con- 
fidence in  the  divine  oracle,  that  the  "older  shall  serve  the 
younger,"  she  might  well  have  followed  tranquilly  the  path 
of  duty,  assured  that  God  himself  would  give  effect  to  his 
word.  He,  in  fact,  fulfilled  it,  in  spite  of  the  great  sin  which 
Rebekah  and  her  favorite  son  committed;  but  with  many  and 
lasting  calamities  for  both  of  them. 

Her  expedient  was  to  call  Jacob,  inform  him  of  all  that  was 
going  on,  and  say  to  him  that  without  the  loss  of  a  moment 
he  should  run  to  the  fold  and  bring  her  two  good  kids,  of 
which  she  would  make  the  savory  food  which  his  father  loved; 
and  then,  carrying  it  in  to  his  father,  before  Esau's  return,  he 
would  receive  the  coveted  blessing.  Jacob,  who  many  years 
before,  had  taken  advantage  of  his  brother's  urgent  need,  in 
order  to  make  him  sell  his  birthright,  and  forced  him  to  confirm 
the  sale  with  an  oath  (ch.  25:  31 — 33),  had,  it  would  seem,  on 
the  score  of  conscience,  no  scruples,  and  made  no  difficulty  about 
acceding  to  his  mother's  proposal.  He  did  not  startle  at  its 
baseness.  He  suggested  to  his  mother  as  his  only  difficulty, 
that  although  the  poor  old  man  could  no  longer  use  his  eyes 


330  GENESIS 

to  know  him,  he  would  perhaps  take  him  by  the  hands  to 
feel  him,  and  would  thus  find  out  the  deception  that  was  prac- 
ticed on  him;  and  so  he,  Jacob,  as  one  who  was  mocking  his 
father,  would  bring  upon  himself,  not  a  blessing,  but  a  curse! 
His  mother,  sagacious  and  crafty,  told  him  to  leave  all  that 
(including  his  curse)  to  her  care,  and  only  listen  to  her  voice, 
and  do  as  soon  as  possible  what  she  commanded  him.  All  the 
steps  in  this  miserable  imposture  fill  us  with  horror,  and  give 
us  a  pitiable  idea  of  the  weakness  of  poor  Isaac,  whose  own 
wife  and  son  expected  to  deceive  him  with  so  clumsy  an  artifice. 
Unhappy  old  man! 

[Note  25. — On  the  sins  of  Old  Testament  Saints.  I  believe 
it  my  duty  to  present  without  disguise,  what  the  Bible  depicts 
without  any  disguise,  lest  some  incautious  reader  fall  into 
the  error,  into  which  many  careless  and  superstitious  per- 
sons fall,  of  believing  that  as  these  were  the  acts  of  the 
people  of  God,  they  were  not  really  wicked;  and  that  as  the 
text  does  not  condemn  them  in  energetic  terms,  it  is  lawful 
to  palliate  them,  if  not  to  justify  or  imitate  them.  The  ancient 
fathers  and  Roman  Catholic  expositors,  with  their  mania  for 
seeking  mystical  senses  in  everything,  with  much  frequency 
fell,  and  yet  fall,  into  this  error.  See  the  notes  of  Bishop  Amat 
on  vrs.  13  and  19  of  this  chapter.  Romanism  not  only  by 
its  anti-christian  doctrines  and  practices,  but  even  by  its  ex- 
positions of  the  Bible,  sinks  deeper  and  deeper  in  the  mire 
of  infidelity  multitudes  of  its  own  baptized  children,  who  seek 
something  of  truth  and  sound  reason  in  religion.  If  any  reader 
is  scandalized  at  seeing  such  hateful  sins  in  the  families  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  let  him  banish  for  ever  from  hi3 
mind  the  idea  of  human  merits,  and  see  that  God  did  not 
have  for  his  object  to  recompense  his  ancient  servants  accord- 
ing to  the  good  or  evil  of  their  conduct,  but  served  himself  of 
such  instruments  (the  best  no  doubt  he  could  find  in  the  world), 
to  carry  out  his  own  designs  of  mercy  toward  the  ruined  race  of 
men,  and  begin  to  plant  in  a  world  of  universal  corruption 
those  principles  of  righteousness  and  holiness  whose  fruits, 
immature  as  yet,  we  are  now  enjoying,  and  which  will  reach 
their  complete  fruition  in  the  day  of  promise  (2  Pet.  3:  13), 
whose  advent  Christ  teaches  us  to  pray  for  with  daily  supplica- 
tion: "Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  wh.l  be  done,  as  in  heaven  so 
ON  EAETH."  We  who  cnjoy  the  light  which  shines  in  the  world 
1900  years  after  Christ,  instead  of  being  scandalized  by  the 
imperfections  and  sins  of  those  who  1900  years  before  Christ 
had   scarcely   begun   to   come   out  of  the  universal   and   dense 


CHAPTER  27:  1—29  331 

darkness,  which  then  covered  all  the  earth  and  all  the  nations, 
ought  rather  to  consider  out  of  what  a  horrible  abyss  of  wick- 
ednesses God  has  now  brought  the  nations  which  in  some 
degree  enjoy  the  innumerable  benefits  of  his  word.  Well,  right 
well,  has  the  apostle  John  said:  "The  darkness  is  passing  away, 
and  the  true  light  already  shineth!"  1  John  2:  8.  How  then 
will  it  be  when  the  darkness  shall  have  completely  and  forever 
passed  away,  by  the  virtue  and  power  of  him  who  came  to  put 
away  sin  {Gr.  for  the  abolition,  or  destruction,  of  sin)  by 
means  of  the  sacrifice  of  himself?  Heb.  9:  26.  See  also  the 
comments  on  the  sin  of  Noah,  in  ch.  9:  24 — 27,  and  of  Abraham 
in  ch.  20:  1—7.] 

Jacob  did  as  he  was  bidden,  and  Rebekah,  who  had  it  all 
arranged  beforehand  in  her  mind,  covered  his  hands  and  the 
smooth  of  his  neck  with  the  skins  of  the  kids,  and  clothing 
him  with  the  most  precious  garments  of  Esau,  which  it  seems 
she  had  by  her  in  the  house,  redolent  with  the  smell  of  the 
fields  and  woods  in  which  he  passed  his  life  (due  perhaps  to 
the  aromatic  herbs  with  which  he  kept  them),  she  placed  in 
his  hands  the  savory  food  now  ready,  together  with  the  bread; 
and  he  presented  them  thus  before  his  father,  in  order  to  re- 
ceive his  blessing.  Isaac,  who  did  not  recognize  in  his  tones 
the  voice  of  Esau,  asks  him  who  he  is;  and  he,  who  had  learned 
well  his  part,  answers:  "I  am  Esau,  thy  first-born.  I  have 
done  as  thou  badest  me;  arise,  I  pray  thee,  sit  up  and  eat  of 
my  venison,  that  thy  soul  may  bless  me!"  The  words  "arise, 
sit  up"  confirm  us  in  the  belief  that  the  poor  old  man  was 
sick,  or  at  least  seriously  ailing.  But  the  distrust  of  Isaac 
had  now  been  awakened;  he  asks  him,  therefore,  how  it  is  that 
he  had  so  soon  found  the  venison;  and  the  crafty  Jacob 
hypocritically  answers  (dishonoring  thus  the  name  and  provi- 
dence of  God) :  "Because  Jehovah  thy  God  sent  me  good  speed." 
Distrustful  still,  he  made  him  come  near  to  him,  that  he  might 
feel  him;  and  he  said:  "The  voice  Is  Jacob's  voice,  but  the 
hands  are  the  hands  of  Esau.  And  he  discerned  him  not, 
because  his  hands  were  hairy,  as  his  brother  Esau's  hands;  and 
so  he  blessed  him."  But  the  poor  Isaac,  bewildered  not  only 
as  to  his  sight,  but  now  in  mind  as  well,  asked  him  helplessly 
for  the  last  time:  "Art  thou  my  very  son  Esau?"  And  he,  re- 
solved now  to  carry  through  his  purpose,  answered  without 
hesitation:  "I  am!"  The  poor  old  blind  man,  worse  bewildered 
than  before,  unable  to  detect  the  deceit  that  was  being  practiced 
on  him,  and  without  anybody  he  could  make  use  of  to  know 
just  what  was  passing,   said  to  Jacob:     "Bring  it  near  to   me, 


3S2  GENESIS 

and  I  will  eat  of  my  son's  venison,  that  my  soul  may  bless  thee." 
And  having  eaten,  Jacob  brought  him  wine  and  he  drank.  He 
said  to  him  at  last:  "Come  near  now,  and  kiss  me,  my  son!" 
Jacob  did  so;  and  when  Isaac  smelled  the  odor  of  his  raiment,  he 
exclaimed : 

"See,  the  smell  of  my  son, 

is  as  the  smell  of  a  field  which  Jehovah  hath  blessed! 

And  God  give  thee  of  the  dew  of  heaven,"  etc. 

The  blessing  of  Jacob  contained  three  things:  1st.  Material 
prosperity — fruitful  seasons  and  abundant  harvests.  As  it  does 
not  rain  in  Palestine  during  the  months  of  summer,  abundant 
dews  come  to  supply,  in  favored  parts,  the  lack  of  rain.  The 
copiousness  of  these  dews  may  be  inferred  from  that  which 
fell  upon  the  fleece  of  Gideon,  from  which  he  wrung  out  a 
bowlful  of  water  (Judg.  6:  38),  and  from  the  comparison  which 
Hushai  makes  of  an  army  which  comes  down  upon  the  oppos- 
ing hosts  "as  the  dew  falleth  upon  the  ground."  2  Sam.  17:  12. 
2nd.  Power  and  dominion  over  peoples  and  nations,  and  the 
lordship  of  his  brethren, — the  children  of  his  mother.  As  he 
had  no  other  brother  but  Esau,  the  words  can  be  understood 
of  the  descendants  of  each  respectively — the  form  in  which 
such  promises  and  prophecies  must  be  understood,  as  Esau  was 
never  personally  subject  to  Jacob.  3rd.  The  two  last  lines 
of  the  blessing  are  merely  a  repetition,  with  a  change  of  form, 
of  the  blessing  which  God  gave  originally  to  Abraham,  in  ch. 
12:  3:  "I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee  and  him  that  curseth 
thee  I  will  curse;"  and  Baalam  repeats  it  in  almost  the  identical 
form,  in  spite  of  Balak's  wishes  and  the  desires  of  his  own 
covetous  heart,  with  respect  of  the  people  whom  Balak  had 
brought  him  to  curse: 

"Blessed  be  every  one  that  blesseth  thee, 

and  cursed  be  every  one  that  curseth  thee."    Num.  24:  9. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  this  notable  form  of  blessing  is 
used  exclusively  of  the  people  of  God.  And  it  is  a  fact,  real 
and  true  until  today,  and  will  continue  to  be  so  eternally;  not 
with  regard  to  Churches  or  ecclesiastical  establishments,  but 
with  reference  to  the  true  people  of  God.  In  Matt.  25:  31 — 46 
(that  greatly  misunderstood  and  misused  passage),  Jesus  teaches 
us  that  in  the  last  great  day  the  destiny  and  final  abode  of 
men  will  turn  on  the  attitude  tJiey  have  habitually  maintained 
toward  his  true  people;  those  whom  he  will,  in  that  day,  set 
at  his  right  hand: — an  infallible  touchstone,  which  will  determine 
the  real  attitude  of  each  individual  soul  towards  himself. 


CHAPTER  27:  30—40  333 

27:  30 — 40.    esau's  bittee  disappointment.     (1760  b.  c.) 

30  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  soon  as  Isaac  had  made  an  end  of 
blessing  Jacob,  and  Jacob  was  yet  scarce  gone  out  from  the  presence 
of  Isaac  his  father,  that  Esau  his  brother  came  in  from  liis  hunting. 

31  And  he  also  made  savory  food,  and  brought  it  unto  his  father; 
and  he  said  unto  his  father.  Let  my  father  arise,  and  eat  his  son's 
venison,  that  thy  soul  may  bless  me. 

32  And  Isaac  his  father  said  unto  him,  Who  art  thou?  And  he 
said,  I  am  thy  son,  thy  first-born,  Esau. 

33  And  Isaac  trembled  very  exceedingly,  and  said.  Who  then  is  he 
that  hath  taken  venison,  and  brought  it  me,  and  I  have  eaten  of  all 
before  thou  earnest,  and  have  blessed  him?  yea,  and  he  shall  be  blessed. 

34  When  Esau  heard  the  words  of  his  father,  he  cried  with  an 
exceeding  great  and  bitter  cry,  and  said  unto  his  father,  Bless  me, 
even  me  also,  O  my  father. 

35  And  he  said,  Thy  brother  came  with  guile,  and  hath  taken 
away  thy  blessing. 

36  And  he  said.  Is  not  he  rightly  named  Jacob?  for  he  hath  sup- 
planted me  these  two  times:  he  took  away  my  birthright;  and,  be- 
hold, now  he  hath  taken  away  my  blessing.  And  he  said.  Hast  thou 
not  reserved  a  blessing  for  me? 

37  And  Isaac  answered  and  said  unto  Esau,  Behold,  I  have  made 
him  thy  lord,  and  all  his  brethren  have  I  given  to  him  for  servants ; 
and  with  grain  and  new  wine  have  I  sustained  him :  and  what  then 
shall   I   do   for  thee,   my  son? 

38  And  Esau  said  unto  his  father,  Hast  thou  but  one  blessing, 
my  father?  bless  me,  even  me  also,  O  my  father.  And  Esau  lifted 
up  his  voice,  and  wept. 

39  And  Isaac  his  father  answered  and  said  unto  him, 
Behold,  of*  the  fatness  of  the  earth  shall  be  thy  dwelling, 
And  of  the  dew  of  heaven  from  above ; 

40  And   by  thy   sword   shalt   thou   live,   and   thou   shalt   serve   thy 

brother ; 
And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  thou  shalt  break  loose, 
That  thou  shalt  shake  his  yoke  from  off  thy  neck. 
*0r,  away  from. 

The  two  brothers  almost  met  at  the  door,  while  the  one  went 
out  and  the  other  came  in.  Esau  also  had  hastened  as  much 
as  possible,  and  had  prepared  savory  food,  and  brought  it  to 
his  father;  and  with  the  genial  frankness  which  characterized 
him,  and  a  candor  which  suspected  no  evil,  with  sonorous  voice 
he  saluted  his  father,  as  he  entered,  with  the  ingenuous  and 
cheerful  invitation:  "Let  my  father  arise,  and  eat  of  his  son's 
venison,  that  thy  soul  may  bless  me!"  Isaac,  surprised  and 
stunned,  received  his  salutation  with  the  unlooked-for  and  dry 
inquiry:  "Who  art  thou?"  To  which  Esau  replied,  no  doubt 
with  altered  voice:  "I  am  thy  son,  thy  first-born,  Esau!"  Now 
at  last  begins  to  dawn  on  the  poor  blind  man  the  deceit  which 
his  younger  son,  aided  by  his  mother,  had  practiced  on  him, 
and  he  trembles  with  a  very  great  trembling.  Still  confused, 
he  inquires:  "Who  then  is  he  that  hath  taken  venison  and 
brought  it  to  me,  and  I  have  eaten  of  all  before  thou  camest  and, 
have  blessed  him?"     And  remembering  then  the  oracle  of  God, 


334  GENESIS 

and  how,  contrary  to  his  own  will  and  purpose,  he  himself 
had  fulfilled  it,  he  adds:  "Yea,  and  he  shall  be  blessed!"  Jacob 
had  feared  with  good  reason  that  his  father  would  discover 
the  miserable  trick  of  his  mother,  and  would  lay  on  him  a 
curse  instead  of  a  blessing.  Isaac  in  fact  discovers,  but  too 
late,  the  imposture;  but  instead  of  endeavoring  to  revoke  the 
blessing  given  so  contrary  to  his  own  will,  and  persuaded  at 
last  of  the  designs  of  God,  he  adds  slowly  and  thoughtfully: 
"Yea,  and  he  shall  be  Messed!" 

The  surprise  and  desperation  of  Esau  are  depicted  in  the 
text  with  such  naturalness  and  skill  that  all  human  embellish- 
ments can  but  mar  the  beauty  of  the  passage.  Forty  or 
fifty  years  before,  to  satisfy  the  clamors  of  his  appetite,  Esau 
had  sold  his  birthright,  with  everything  pertaining  thereto 
(of  which  the  blessing  was  a  part),  without  its  costing  him 
one  sigh,  or  even  a  thought:  "And  he  ate,  and  he  drank, 
and  he  rose  up,  and  he  went  away.  So  Esau  despised  his  birth- 
right!" Ch.  25:  34.  But  now  with  vehement  desire,  with  con- 
vulsive sobs,  and  with  a  great  and  exceeding  bitter  cry,  he 
endeavors  to  obtain  what  he  then  lost;  but  all  in  vain.  It  adds 
no  little  interest  to  this  moving  scene  to  remember  that  it 
was  a  man  of  seventy-five  years  who  so  uselessly  weeps  for 
what  had  once  been  his,  but  which  he  had  sold  with  contempt; 
like  so  many  other  children  of  pious  parents,  bred  up  for  the 
kingdom  of  God,  who  despise  the  heavenly  gift,  and  exchange 
it  gladly  for  any  tempting  morsel  of  sinful  delight  M'hich 
Satan  may  set  before  them.  Extremely  moving  are  the  words: 
"Hast  thou  not  reserved  a  blessing  for  me?" — "Hast  thou  but 
one  blessing,  my  father?  bless  me,  even  me  also,  oh  my  father!" 
To  this  the  apostle  refers  in  Heb.  12:  15 — 17:  "Looking  diligently 
lest  any  man  come  short  of  the  grace  of  God;  .  .  .  lest 
there  be  any  fornicator  or  profane  person,  as  Esau,  who  for 
one  morsel  of  meat  sold  his  own  birthright.  For  ye  know  that 
even  when  he  afterwards  desired  to  inherit  the  blessing,  he 
was  rejected;  for  he  found  (in  his  father)  no  place  for  a 
change  of  mind  (Gr.  repentance),  though  he  sought  it  earnestly 
with  tears."  His  father  was  on  his  side;  his  father  earnestly 
desired  to  give  him  the  blessing,  for  whom  he  had  long  held  it 
in  reserve;  but  in  spite  of  all  this,  his  father  could  not  change, 
much  less  withdraw,  what  he  had  already  said,  knowing  at 
last  that  such  was  the  will  of  God.  From  this  firm  purpose 
of  his,  the  cries,  and  sobs,  and  passionate  entreaties  of  Esau, 
could  not  move  him;  and  it  is  very  remarkable  that  Isaac, 
instead  of  soothing  with  soft  words  and  expressions  of  equivocal 


CHAPTER  27:  30—40  335 

import  the  wounds  he  had  made,  seeing  at  last  that  he  was 
speaking  for  God  and  not  for  himself,  with  great  clearness  said 
to  him:  "Behold  I  have  made  him  thy  lord,  and  all  his  brethren 
have  I  given  him  for  servants;  with  corn  and  with  wine  have 
I  sustained  him,  and  what  then  shall  I  do  for  thee,  my  son?" 
As  Esau  persisted  in  his  entreaty,  begging  that  he  would  give 
him  a  second  blessing,  even  though  he  had  lost  the  first,  his 
father  at  last  relented,  and  gave  him  all  he  could,  as  the 
prophet  of  God, — a  quasi-blessing,  which  in  its  temporal  as- 
pect lacked  little  of  the  blessing  which  he  had  given  to  Jacob. 

The  words  "of  the  fatness  of  the  earth"  are  by  some  trans- 
lated "away  from  the  fatness  of  the  earth,"  etc.,  with  allusion 
to  the  dry  lands  of  the  mountain  country  of  Seir,  the  land  of 
Edom.  But  such  a  sense  does  not  appear  to  me  adequate  to  the 
occasion,  nor  in  agreement  with  the  facts  of  the  case;  because 
Esau  voluntarily  withdrew  from  Canaan  to  the  mountain  country 
of  Seir,  before  Jacob  returned  from  Padan-aram.  Ch.  32:  3; 
36:  6,  7.  And  since  the  separation  was  made  (as  in  the  case 
of  Abraham  and  Lot)  in  view  of  the  immense  numbers  of 
their  flocks  and  herds,  it  is  clear  that  the  land  of  Edom  was 
well  suited  to  the  wishes  of  Esau  and  to  his  need,  as  a  land 
abundant  in  pasturage,  and  not  lacking  in  either  the  dew  of 
heaven  or  the  fatness  of  the  earth.  Even  in  our  day,  when 
the  southern  part  of  the  land  of  Canaan  is  sadly  lacking  in 
both  these  things,  the  high  lands  of  Edom,  to  the  east  of 
the  Arabah,  and  to  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  "is  rich  in 
pasturage,  abundant  in  trees  and  flowers,  and  brings  to  mind 
the  memory  of  the  blessing  which  Isaac  gave  to  Esau:  'Be- 
hold thy  dwelling  shall  be  of  the  fatness  of  the  earth  and  of 
the  dews  of  heaven  from  above.'  "  Robinson's  Biblical  Researches, 
Vol  2,  pp.  551,  552.  Schaff's  Bible  Dictionary,  Article  Edom. 
If  this  part  of  the  land  of  Edom  is  today  so  greatly  superior 
to  the  south  of  Judah,  we  can  readily  conceive  what  it  must 
have  been  when  Esau  chose  it  for  himself,  and  when,  at  a 
later  date,  it  had  many  and  great  cities,  and  a  dense,  powerful 
and  warlike  population.  In  respect  to  temporal  advantages, 
the  blessing  of  Esau  is  almost  a  repetition  of  that  which  Isaac 
gave  to  Jacob,  except  that  the  land  of  Edom  was  much  smaller 
than  the  land  of  Israel,  which  was  "the  good  land"  which 
Jehovah  promised  to  Abraham.  There  was  also  this  difference, 
that  Esau  entered  into  the  possession  of  his  good  things  at 
once;  whereas  Jacob  went  down  into  Egypt,  and  his  descendants 
did  not  come  into  possession  of  his  for  some  300  years  or 
more.     When    Moses    asked    permission    of   the   king   of    Edom 


336  GENESIS 

(=Esau)  to  pass  through  his  territory,  on  his  way  from  Egypt 
to  Canaan,  the  land  was  abounding  in  planted  fields  and  vine- 
yards. Num.  20:  17.  In  respect  of  riches  and  personal  pos- 
sessions, then,  it  would  seem  that  Esau  did  not  come  behind 
Jacob  (ch.  36:  6,  7);  and  when  Jacob  wished  that  Esau,  who 
had  become  reconciled  to  him,  should  accept  some  600  head 
of  cattle,  which  he  sent  him,  Esau  replied:  "/  have  enough, 
my  brother ;  let  that  thou  hast  be  thine."  Ch.  34:  9.  And  as 
regards  military  strength,  Esau  was  much  the  more  powerful. 
It  is  therefore  a  great  error  to  suppose  that  Isaac's  words  made 
Esau  the  possessor  of  a  dry  land,  sterile  and  of  few  resources, 
or  that  it  deprived  him  of  any  class  of  temporal  good. 

The  words  "by  thy  sword  thou  shalt  live,"  indicate  the  war- 
like spirit  of  Esau  and  his  descendants.  But  Isaac  repeats 
yet  again  the  words:  "Thou  shalt  serve  thy  brother;"  although  he 
adds  that,  at  last,  "thou  shalt  shake  his  yoke  from  off  thy 
neck."  As  Esau  personally  was  never  subject  to  Jacob,  this 
subjection  must  be  understood  of  his  posterity.  Under  David 
and  Solomon  the  kingdom  of  Edom  was  subject  to  Israel,  and 
on  several  occasions  it  was  subject  to  their  successors;  but 
Edom  (or  Esau)  always  freed  himself,  until  he  shook  off  en- 
tirely the  yoke.  Edom  was  always  the  unrelenting  enemy  of 
Israel,  the  hatred  of  the  parents  passing  down  to  their  children. 
The  Prophecy  of  Obadiah  (587  B.  C.)  was  spoken  against 
the  people  of  Edom,  at  the  time  of  the  wars  of  Nebuchadnez- 
zar, because  of  their  bitter  hatred  against  Judah,  because  of 
their  unseemly  rejoicing  at  its  calamities,  and  because  of  the 
treachery  with  which  they  slew  those  of  the  captives  who  fell 
behind  in  the  desert  (Obad.  10,  14);  because  of  "the  perpetual 
enmity."    Ezek.  35:  5. 

[It  may  be  of  interest  to  remark  in  passing,  that  Herod 
the  Great,  the  last  king  of  Judea,  was  a  descendant  of  Esau,  an 
Idumean  by  the  side  of  both  father  and  mother;  and  this  cir- 
cumstance no  doubt  was  the  foundation  for  that  irreconcilable 
hatred  with  which  the  Jews  regarded  him  during  his  long  reign, 
aggravated  by  his  cruelties  and  other  crimes,  and  in  spite  of 
his  magnificent  endowments  and  the  great  services  he  conferred 
on  the  nation. — Tr.] 

27:  41^-46.     WITH  DEADLIEST  HATRED,  ESAU  LAYS  HIS  PLANS  TO  KILL 
JACOB.      (1760  B.   C.) 

41  And  Esau  hated  Jacob  because  of  the  blessing  wherewith  his 
father  blessed  him  :  and  Esau  said  in  his  heart,  The  days  of  mourn- 
ing for  my  father  are  at  hand  :   then  will  I  slay  my  brother  Jacob. 

42  And  the  words  of  Esau  her  elder  son  were  told  to  Rebekah ; 
and  she  sent  and  called  Jacob  her  younger  son,  and  said  unto  him, 


CHAPTER  27:  41—46  327 

Behold,  thy  brother  Esau,   as  touching  thee,   doth   comfort  himself, 
purposing  to  kill  thee, 

43  Now  therefore,  my  son,  obey  my  voice;  and  arise,  flee  thou  to 
Laban  my  brother  to  Haran ; 

44  and  tarry  with  him  a  few  days,  until  thy  brother's  fury  turn 
away ; 

45  until  thy  brother's  anger  turn  away  from  thee,  and  he  forget 
that  whicli  Ihoti  hast  done  to  him  :  then  I  will  send,  and  fetch  thee 
from  thence:  why  should  I  be  bereaved  of  you  both  in  one  day? 

40  And  Kebekah  said  to  Isaac,  I  am  weary  of  my  life  because 
of  the  daughters  of  Heth  ;  if  Jacob  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of 
Heth,  such  as  these,  of  the  daughters  of  the  land,  what  good  shall  my 
life  do  me? 

The  effects  of  this  cruel  and  impious  fraud  w^ere  what 
might  have  been  expected.  It  seems  that  they  were  all  look- 
ing for  the  early  death  of  Isaac;  whicli  lends  support  to  the 
supposition  that  he  was  at  the  time  sick,  or  in  very  infirm 
health;  but  instead  of  the  expected  death  of  his  father  soften- 
ing the  heart  of  Esau,  he  took  encouragement  therefrom  to 
lay  his  plans  to  kill  Jacob  as  soon  as  his  father  was  dead:  "The 
days  of  mourning  for  my  father  are  at  hand;  then  shall  I 
slay  my  brother  Jacob."  So  "Esau  said  in  his  heart";  but  he 
did  not  avoid  saying  so  with  his  mouth;  of  which,  when  his 
mother  was  advised,  the  watchful  and  quick-sighted  Rebekah 
found  herself  "taken  In  her  own  craftiness;"  and  calling  Jacob, 
she  informed  him  that  Esau  was  about  to  avenge  himself  by 
killing  him,  and  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  go 
away  for  some  time,  in  order  to  save  his  life.  For  the  Orientals, 
vengeance  is  the  most  exquisite  pleasure  and  the  most  precious 
consolation;  and  by  this  natural  association  of  ideas  this  Hebrew 
verb  nacham  comes  to  signify,  at  the  same  time,  to  suffer,  to 
lament,  to  be  sorry,  to  repent,  to  console,  and  to  avenge  one's  self. 
Valera  and  the  English  "Versions  say:  "comfort  himself,"  but 
to  "avenge  himself"  comes  nearer  to  our  use  and  mode  of  ex- 
pression. Rebekah  gained  for  her  favorite  son  the  coveted 
blessing,  but  in  consequence  thereof  she  was  going  to  lose 
forever  her  beloved  Jacob;  although  she  little  thought  so.  She 
had  not  understood,  and  did  not  yet  understand  the  character 
of  her  brave,  daring  and  resolute  son  Esau.  It  moves  us  with 
pity  to  hear  the  poor  mother,  always  fertile  in  expedients, 
say:  "Now  therefore,  my  son,  obey  my  voice;  and  arise,  flee 
thou  to  Laban  my  brother,  to  Haran;  and  tarry  with  Mm  a  feio 
days  until  thy  brother's  fury  turn  away;  until  thy  brother's 
anger  turn  away  from  thee,  and  he  forget  that  which  thou 
hast  done  to  him;  then  will  I  send  and  fetch  thee  from  thence." 
Never  during  her  lifetime  did  she  find  the  favorable  juncture 
to  bring  him  home  again.     For  twenty  years  Esau  carried  the 


338  GENESIS 

purpose  of  vengeance  in  his  heart,  and  when  Jacob  returned 
from  Padan-aram,  under  the  safe-conduct  of  the  Most  High 
(ch.  31:  3;  32:  9),  Esau  went  out  to  meet  him  with  400  armed 
men,  with  the  purpose  of  shedding  his  blood.     Ch.   32:  6. 

Rebekah's  question:  "Why  should  I  be  bereaved  of  you  both 
in  one  day?"  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  administration  of  justice 
in  those  times.  As  in  the  days  of  the  patriarchs  there  were 
no  written  laws  nor  State  tribunals,  to  judge  and  punish  crimi- 
nals, every  chief  of  a  tribe  or  clan  administered  justice  in  his 
own  manner.  If  Esau  had  killed  Jacob  while  Isaac  was  alive, 
his  own  father  would  have  had  to  judge  and  punish  him;  which 
was  another  reason,  or  the  special  reason,  why  Esau  would 
attempt  nothing  against  the  life  of  his  brother,  until  after 
the  death  of  his  father;  when  he  himself  would  be  the  chief 
of  the  little  State.  This  was  then  the  desperate  case  in  which 
Rebekah  and  her  favorite  son  found  themselves.  But  she 
was  careful  not  to  explain  the  situation  to  the  old  blind  man. 
The  Oriental  mind  and  heart  do  every  thing  &i/  indirection, 
and  she  had  other  motives  besides,  for  not  explaining  things 
to  Isaac  with  the  same  liberty  that  she  did  to  Jacob,  her  ac- 
complice in  the  sin  which  placed  them  in  this  great  strait. 
To  Isaac,  therefore,  she  presented  the  subject  from  a  different 
point  of  view:  "I  am  weary  of  my  life  because  of  the  daughters 
of  Heth;  if  Jacob  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of  Heth,  such  as 
these,  of  the  daughters  of  the  land,  what  good  shall  my  life  do 
me?"     Vr.  46. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

VBS.    1 5.       JACOB    IS    SENT    AWAY    TO    PADAN-ARAM,    OSTENSIBLY    TO 

TAKE  A  WIFE  OF  HIS  OWN  KINDRED;    THE  IMMEDIATE  MOTIVE  BEING 
TO  PUT  HIMSELF  IN  A.  PLACE  OF  SAFETY.      (1760  B.  C.) 

1  And  Isaac  called  Jacob,  and  blessed  him,  and  charged  him,  and 
said  unto  him,  Thou  sbalt  not  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of 
Canaan. 

2  Arise,  go  to  Paddan-aram,  to  the  house  of  Bethuel  thy  mother's 
father ;  and  take  thee  a  wife  from  thence  of  the  daughters  of  Laban 
thy  mother's  brother. 

3  And  God  Almighty  bless  thee,  and  make  thee  fruitful,  and  mul- 
tiply thee,  that  thou  mayest  be  a  company  of  peoples ; 

4  and  give  thee  the  blessing  of  Abraham,  to  thee,  and  to  thy  seed 
with  thee ;  that  thou  mayest  inherit  the  land  of  thy  sojournings,  which 
God  gave  unto  Abraham. 

5  And  Isaac  sent  away  Jacob :  and  he  went  to  Paddan-aram  unto 
Laban,  son  of  Bethuel  the  Syrian,  the  brother  of  Rebekah,  Jacob's 
and  Esau's  mother. 

It  seems  strange  that  Jacob,  in  the  line  of  promise,  and  de- 
pendent on  whom  were  the  spiritual  hopes  of  the  world,  should 


CHAPTER  28:  1—5  339 

remain  unmarried  for  30  or  35  years  after  the  marriage  of 
Esau.  Cli.  26:  34.  It  is  probable  that  his  indolent  and  do- 
mestic disposition,  without  any  spirit  of  enterprise,  and  little 
inclined  to  adventures  of  any  kind,  was  responsible  for  that, 
and  also  that  God,  as  is  his  wont,  made  use  of  the  sins  and 
calamities  of  Jacob  and  his  mother,  to  force  him  into  new 
relations.  Why  Isaac  did  not  seek  a  wife  for  Jacob  (and  in 
fact  for  both  of  his  sons),  as  Abraham  had  sent  to  Haran 
to  take  a  wife  of  his  own  kindred  for  him,  we  cannot  tell; 
but  doubtless  there  were  reasons  for  it.  Perhaps  the  impatient 
and  worldly  spirit  of  Esau  hindered  it,  in  his  case;  and  in  the 
case  of  Jacob,  the  rivalries  and  jealousies  existing  between 
the  two  sons  may  have  had  the  same  effect.  And  when,  at 
last,  Jacob  set  out  himself  to  go  to  Padan-aram,  with  this  com- 
mission, why  he  should  have  to  go  afoot,  empty-handed,  with- 
out a  servant,  without  a  companion,  his  father  being  so  rich  and 
important  a  personage;  and  why  his  father  should  place  him 
in  the  hands  of  the  selfish  and  pitiless  Laban,  without  re- 
sources, where  he  would  suffer  without  any  remedy  the  ex- 
actions of  such  a  grasping  kinsman,  we  cannot  explain;  but 
doubtless  there  were  reasons,  on  the  human  side,  for  it;  and 
on  the  divine  side,  God  no  doubt  so  arranged  it,  in  order  to 
apply  a  remedy  to  the  many  and  grievous  spiritual  maladies 
of  Jacob,  and  to  bring  him,  sincerely  converted,  to  the  feet 
of  his  God.  It  is  also  probable,  or  certain,  that  the  case  did 
not  admit  of  any  delay,  and  that  the  secrecy  which  the  cir- 
cumstances demanded  did  not  allow  of  the  accompaniment 
either  of  men  or  beasts.  It  is  probable  that  his  departure  took 
place  at  night,  without  any  one  knowing  anything  about  it, 
and  that  the  secret  was  carefully  kept  for  some  days,  until 
Esau  lost  the  hope  of  overtaking  him.  However  that  may  be, 
Jacob  was  sent  away  alone,  and  with  great  haste  and  sudden 
alarm. 

On  sending  him  to  Padan-aram,  his  father  told  him  that  he 
should  marry  a  first-cousin,  one  of  the  daughters  of  his  ma- 
ternal uncle,  Laban.  Abraham  married  his  niece,  or  his  half 
sister;  Isaac  married  his  first-cousin,  and  now  he  gives  ex- 
press directions  to  Jacob  for  him  to  do  the  same;  and  this 
kind  of  marriage  with  near  relatives  is  still  very  usual  among 
the  Jews.  The  father  of  Moses  married  his  paternal  aunt  (Ex. 
6:  20;  Num.  26:  59), — a  thing  which  was  afterwards  prohibited 
by  the  law  of  Moses.  The  marriage  of  first-cousins  is  never 
forbidden  by  the  Bible;  but  it  is,  by  civil  statute,  in  many  of 
the  States  of  the  American  Union;   and  it  is  generally  regarded 


340  GENESIS 

as  inexpedient,  on  account  of  the  results  which  are  often  seen  in 
the  children  of  such  marriages. 

On  sending  him  away,  Isaac  blessed  him,  this  time  more 
sincerely  and  with  deeper  feeling  than  before,  constituting 
him,  as  far  as  he  could  do  it,  heir  of  the  great  promise,  and 
invoking  upon  him  the  richest  blessings  of  God,  including  "the 
blessing  of  Abraham,"  and  the  possession  of  the  land  promised 
to  him.  It  is  worthy  of  repetition  that  Esau  entered  at  once 
into  the  enjoyment  of  "his  good  things,"  as  corresponded  with 
his  impatient  and  worldly  character:  Jacob,  as  he  had  to  serve 
the  divine  purposes,  incomparably  higher,  had  to  wait.  Canaan 
was  not  to  him  personally  anything  more  than  "the  land  of 
his  sojournings,"  which  400  years  after  the  covenant  made  with 
Abraham  (ch.  15:  13,  16),  his  descendants,  under  Joshua,  came 
in  to  possess. 

28:  6 — 9.        THE     PRETEXT     WHICH     ESAU     HAD     FOB     TAKING     STILL 
ANOTHER   WIFE.       (1760   B.    C.) 

6  Now  Esau  saw  that  Isaac  had  blessed  Jacob  and  sent  him  away 
to  Paddan-aram,  to  take  him  a  wife  from  thence :  and  that  as  he 
blessed  him  he  gave  him  a  charge,  saying,  Thou  shalt  not  take  a  wife 
of  the  daughters  of  Canaan ; 

7  and  that  Jacob  obeyed  his  father  and  his  mother,  and  was  gone 
to   Paddan-aram ; 

8  and  Esau  saw  that  the  daughters  of  Canaan  pleased  not  Isaac 
his  father ; 

9  and  Esau  went  unto  Ishmael,  and  took,  besides  the  wives  that 
he  had,  Mahalath  the  daughter  of  Ishmael  Abraham's  son,  the  sister 
of  Nebajoth,  to  be  his  wife. 

We  cannot  understand  why  Esau  should  come  to  believe  that 
by  marrying  a  daughter  of  his  uncle  Ishmael,  he  might  remedy, 
in  the  opinion  of  his  parents,  the  error  which  he  committed  35 
years  before,  in  joining  himself  in  marriage  with  two  Hittite 
women.  Ishmael  was  the  half-brother  of  his  father,  and  Ma- 
halath was  his  first-cousin.  She  was  the  sister  of  Nebajoth; 
whose  mention  here  gives  us  to  understand  that  he  was  the 
most  distinguished  of  the  sons  of  Ishmael,  a  man  well  known 
in  his  day,  and  also  assures  us  that  there  existed  good  relations 
between  the  two  families.  The  harm  of  his  former  marriages 
was  already  done,  and  would  not  be  diminished  by  his  taking 
three  wives  instead  of  two;  so  that  it  looks  like  a  mere  pretext  for 
following  his  own  inclinations.  His  other  wives  were  now  old, 
and  the  daughter  of  Ishmael  was  no  doubt  young,  and  would 
have  for  him  greater  attractions  than  the  daughters  of  Heth. 
The  words  "took  unto  the  wives  he  already  had,"  seem  to  carry 
a  covert  reproof  of  his  conduct.     Men  of  little   conscience  are 


CHAPTER  28:  10—15  341 

never  at  a  loss  for  "good  and  weighty  reasons"  to  do  what  their 
inclinations  crave. 

28:  10 — 15.      JACOB  IN  BETHEL.      HIS  DKEAM.      (1760  B.  C.) 

10  And  Jacob  went  out  from  Beer-sheba,  and  went  toward  Haran. 

11  And  he  lighted  upon  a  certain  place,  and  tarried  there  all 
night,  because  the  sun  was  set ;  and  he  took  one  of  the  stones  of  the 
place,  and  put  it  under  his  head,  and  lay  down  in  that  place  to 
sleep. 

12  And  he  dreamed ;  and,  behold,  a  ladder*  set  up  on  the  earth, 
and  the  top  of  it  reached  to  heaven;  and,  behold,  the  angels  of  God 
ascending  and  descending  on  it. 

13  And,  behold,  Jehovah  stood  above  it,  and  said,  I  am  Jehovah, 
the  God  of  Abraham  thy  father,  and  the  God  of  Isaac :  the  land 
whereon  thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed ; 

14  and  thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  thou  shalt 
spread  abroad  to  the  west,  and  to  the  east,  and  to  the  north,  and  to  the 
south  :  and  in  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth 
be  blessed. 

15  And,  behold,  I  am  with  thee,  and  will  keep  thee  whithersoever 
thou  goest,  and  will  bring  thee  again  into  this  land ;  for  I  will  not 
leave  thee,  until  I  have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of. 

*Jf.  S.  v.,  a  stairway. 

The  mention  of  Esau's  new  marriage  broke  the  thread  of 
the  story  of  Jacob's  flight  to  Padan-aram;  we  resume  it  here. 
Vr.  10  informs  us  (which  we  did  not  know  before)  that  the 
events  now  related  took  place  in  Beersheba,  where  Isaac  and 
his  family  had  probably  resided  since  before  the  marriage  of 
Esau  with  his  two  Hittite  wives.  See  ch.  26:  23.  Jacob  set 
out  from  Beersheba,  then,  and  he  departed  with  haste  and 
alarm.  The  prophet  Hosea  says  with  allusion  to  the  distress 
and  danger  of  Jacob  at  this  point  of  his  history: 

"Jacob  fled  into  the  country  of  Syria, 

and  Israel  served  for  a  wife, 

and  for  a  wife  he  kept  sheep."    Hos.  12:12. 

That  was  a  precipitate  flight  of  his,  and  the  feelings  which 
filled  his  heart  are  painted  vividly  in  ch.  35:  1  and  3,  where 
Jehovah  told  him,  in  a  time  of  even  greater  distress,  to  go 
up  to  Bethel,  and  make  there  "an  altar  unto  God  who  appeared 
unto  thee  when  thou  fleddest  from  the  face  of  Esau  thy  brother"; 
Jacob  also  said  to  his  people:  "Let  us  arise  and  go  up  to 
Bethel;  and  I  will  make  an  altar  there  unto  God  who  answered 
me  in  the  day  of  my  distress."  That  recollection  of  "the  face  of 
Esau,"  the  cause  of  his  mortal  anguish,  could  never  fade  from 
the  memory  of  Jacob. 

Having  made  the  arrangements  aforesaid  with  much  haste 
and  secrecy,  in  order  that  neither  Esau  nor  any  one  else  in 
the  encampment  should   know  of   it,   he  set  out  with  his  staff 


342  GENESIS 

for  his  only  companion  (ch.  32:  10),  at  midnight,  or  long  be- 
fore daylight,  judging  by  the  distance  he  traveled  in  that  first 
day's  journey.  Beersheba  was  25  miles  from  Hebron,  and  Hebron 
was  20  miles  south  of  Jerusalem,  and  Bethel,  12  miles  to  the 
north  of  Jerusalem — 57  miles  in  all,  if  he  took  this  route;  and 
the  history  tells  us  that  he  arrived  there  at  night-fall  on  the 
first  day  of  his  long  journey;  for  evidently  he  had  that  vision 
in  Bethel  on  the  night  of  the  first  day.  He  was  there  near 
to  the  city  or  town  of  Luz;  but  for  the  frightened  fugitive 
the  outlying  country  had  greater  attractions  than  the  town; 
and  he  slept  in  the  open  field.  In  all  that  long  first  day's 
journey  he  would  often  look  backwards  to  see  if  Esau  with 
his  avenging  sword,  or  his  far-reaching  arrows  was  coming 
in  pursuit  of  him.  Panting,  therefore,  hungry  and  utterly  ex- 
hausted, he  took  one  of  the  stones  of  that  place,  and  putting 
it  for  his  hard  pillow,  he  lay  down  on  the  cold  ground;  but 
instead  of  dreams  of  the  terrifying  "face  of  Esau,"  he  had 
there  visions  of  God!  He  dreamed  a  dream  which  forever  must 
be  memorable  in  the  annals  of  God's  people.  If  for  us  this 
story  never  loses  anything  of  its  vivid  interest,  how  much  more 
for  Jacob,  and  for  the  godly  of  those  remote  times,  before  a 
page  had  been  written  of  those  Scriptures  which  illumine 
us  with  their  great  light!  Heaven!  What  did  Jacob  and  those 
of  his  day  know  about  heaven?  Jehovah  had  come  down  to 
talk  with  Abraham,  and  had  even  partaken  of  the  hospitality 
of  his  tent;  but  what  did  Abraham  know  about  heaven?  Doubt- 
less he  knew  more  than  we  suppose;  but  for  the  pious  servants 
of  God  in  those  remote  times,  this  dream  of  Jacob  (which 
was  no  fantasy  of  his,  but  a  true  revelation  of  God  and  of 
his  mercy  towards  men)  came  to  shed  a  flood  of  light  upon 
the  certainty  of  such  a  place,  the  facile  communication  there 
was  between  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  profound  interest  which 
God  and  holy  angels  felt  in  the  affairs  of  men.  Jacob  dreamed: 
and  behold  a  stairway  (not  "a  ladder"),  broad  and  convenient, 
whose  base  was  upon  the  earth,  and  its  top  reached  to  heaven, 
upon  which  numerous  companies  of  angels  passed  each  other, 
ascending  and  descending!  This  serves  as  a  commentary  upon 
the  words  of  Paul,  or  an  example  of  what  he  says  in  Heb. 
1:  14:  "Are  they  not  all  [the  angels]  ministering  spirits  sent 
forth  to  do  service  for  the  sake  of  them  that  shall  inherit 
salvation?"  or  those  of  Jesus:  "I  say  unto  you  there  is  joy 
in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one  sinner  that  re- 
penteth."  Luke  15:  10.  But  that  which  more  than  anything 
else   called    his   attention    was   the   circumstance   that    above    it 


CHAPTER  28:  10—15  343 

Jehovah  himself  was  standing,  and  spoke  to  him,  saying:  "I 
am  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Abraham  thy  father,  and  the  God  of 
Isaac;"  and  he  confirmed  to  him  the  covenant  already  made 
with  them,  not  merely  with  regard  to  the  possession  of  that 
land,  but  that  "in  him  and  his  seed  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  should  be  blessed."  Thus  God,  with  his  own  hand,  traces 
the  line  of  the  promise,  and  unfolds  and  widens  the  scope  of 
the  primordial  promise  with  regard  to  the  seed  of  the  woman. 
Gen.  3:  15. 

In  those  ancient  times,  one  and  the  same  promise  embraced 
these  two  things,  which  for  us,  of  Gentile  race,  are  widely 
different;  and  well  has  Paul  extended  the  promise  with  re- 
gard to  that  land,  so  as  to  embrace  "the  inheritance  of  the  world" 
{Gr.  kosmos),  for  all  the  spiritual  children  of  Abraham,  whether 
Jews  or  Gentiles  (Rom.  4:13,  16 — 18);  according  as  Jesus 
himself  teaches  us,  that  "the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth,'" 
in  the  day  when  "the  kingdom  shall  come,  and  the  will  of 
God  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth"  (Matt.  5:  5  and  6:  10) ; 
and  also  that  in  the  last  Judgment  Day,  the  righteous  shall  be 
placed  in  possession  of  the  kingdom  prepared  for  the  just  (rather 
than  for  sinners)  "from  the  foundation  of  the  world."  Matt. 
25:  34. 

In  the  tender  compassion  of  our  God,  he  desired  not  only 
that  the  frightened  Jacob  should  derive  security  and  comfort 
from  the  repetition  and  confirmation  of  these  great  promises 
in  his  own  person,  but  he  accommodated  the  relief  to  the  part 
where  the  danger  and  distress  was  most  pressing,  promising 
him  that  he  himself  would  6e  the  companion  of  his  solitary 
journey,  and  of  his  long  absence  from  the  paternal  home;  and 
that  he  would  keep  him  wherever  he  should  go,  and  would 
bring  him  again  in  safety  to  that  land  of  his  fathers;  because 
he  would  not  leave  him  until  he  had  fulfilled  all  that  he  had 
promised  with  regard  to  him. 

We  naturally  ask.  What  had  the  fugitive  Jacob  done  to  ob- 
tain for  himself  so  great  promises  and  so  opportune  succor 
from  God?  No  answer  can  be  given  but  this:  "Nothing!" 
Cunning  trickster  that  he  was,  an  artful  supplanter,  and  at 
that  very  hour  a  fugitive  in  consequence  of  the  just  resentment 
of  his  frank  and  fearless  brother,  towards  whom  his  attitude 
had  always  been  that  of  a  rival  and  a  competitor,  aspiring  to 
rob  him  of  the  prerogatives  which  were  his  by  the  right  of 
primogeniture.  The  plain  and  extremely  important  lesson  is 
that  Jehovah  was  not  dealing  with  Jacob  according  to  his 
merits  or  demerits,  but  that  he  was  carrying  forward  his  own 


344  GENESIS 

plans  of  mercy  towards  a  world  of  wholly  unworthy  sinners, 
of  whom  Jacob  was  one,  and  whom  he  was  thus  drawing  to 
himself  by  these  great  mercies.  In  the  last  day,  God  will 
reward  every  man  "according  to  his  works."  But  not  before. 
Matt.  16:  27;  Luke  14:  14;  Rom.  2:  6—16;  2  Cor.  5:  10.  It 
is  most  important  that  we  always  keep  before  us  the  fact 
that  neither  with  the  wicked  nor  with  the  righteous  does  God 
now  deal  on  the  footing  of  an  exact  and  faithful  administrator 
of  justice,  but  rather  as  the  compassionate  God  of  a  salvation 
which  we  do  not  deserve,  and  which  in  general  we  do  not  even 
seek,  till  arrested  by  his  grace. 

"But  he,  being  full  of  compassion,  forgave  their  iniquity 

and  destroyed  them  not; 
yea,  many  a  time  turned  he  his  anger  away, 
and  did  not  stir  up  all  his  wrath; 
for  he  remembered  that  they  were  but  flesh; 
a  wind  that  passeth  away,  and  cometh  not  again." 

Ps.  78:  38,  39. 
"He  hath  not  dealt  with  us  after  our  sins, 
nor  rewarded  us  according  to  our  iniquities; 
for  as  the  heavens  are  high  above  the  earth, 
so  great  is  his  mercy  toward  them  that  fear  him; 
as  far  as  the  east  is  from  the  west, 
so  far  hath  he  removed  our  transgressions  from  us." 

Ps.  103:  10,  11. 

It  is  plain  that  Jacob  was  still  a  worldling,  completely  a 
stranger  to  the  life  of  God  and  the  practice  of  piety;  and  Je- 
hovah thus  began  with  him  that  long  series  of  special  providences, 
by  means  of  which  he  not  only  carried  forward  his  glorious 
plans  of  mercy  toward  the  ruined  race  of  man,  but  by  the 
manifestation  of  his  goodness  and  love,  he  brought  him  per- 
sonally to  the  experimental  knowledge  of  the  grace  and  salvation 
of  God. 

28:  16 — 22.    jacob  awakes  in  amazement,    his  vow.     (1760  b.  c.) 

16  And  Jacob  awaked  out  of  his  sleep,  and  he  said,  Surely  Jehovah 
is  in  this  place ;   and  I  knew  it  not. 

17  And  he  was  afraid,  and  said,  How  dreadful  is  this  place !  this  is 
none  other  than  the  bouse  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven. 

18  And  Jacob  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  took  the  stone 
that  he  had  put  under  his  head,  and  set  it  up  for  a  pillar,  and  poured 
oil   upon   the  top   of  it. 

19  And  he  called  the  name  of  that  place  Beth-el  :*  but  the  name  of 
the  city  was  Luz  at  the  first. 

20  And  Jacob  vowed  a  vow,  saying.  If  God  will  be  with  me,  and 

•That  is.  The  house  of  God. 


CHAPTER  28:  16—22  345 

will  keep  me  in  this  way  that  I  go,  and  will  give  me  bread  to  eat,  and 
raiment   to   put   on, 

21  so  that  I  come  again  to  my  father's  house  in  peace,  and  Jehovah 
will  be  my  God, 

22  then  this  stone,t  which  I  have  set  up  for  a  pillar,  shall  be  God's 
house :  and  of  all  that  thou  shalt  give  me  I  will  surely  give  the  tenth 
unto  thee. 

tOr,  then  shall  Jehovah  be  my  God,  and  this  stone,  etc. 

This  dream  and  this  revelation,  so  different  from  all  the 
revelations  of  himself  which  God  had  till  then  made  in  the 
history  of  the  human  redemption,  produced  in  Jacob  (as  the 
vision  on  the  way  to  Damascus  did  on  Saul  of  Tarsus,  Acts 
ch.  9)  an  indescribable  effect.  Beautifully  natural,  and  life- 
like in  the  highest  degree,  is  the  exclamation  with  which  he 
awakes:  "Surely  Jehovah  is  in  this  place,  and  I  knew  it  not!" 
"How  dreadful  is  this  place!  this  is  none  other  than  the  house 
of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven!"  Exclamations  which 
carry  on  their  very  face  the  seal  of  their  exact  truth  and  au- 
thenticity. 

Jacob  probably  did  not  sleep  any  the  rest  of  that  night;  but 
rising  up  early  in  the  morning,  he  took  the  stone  which  had 
served  him  as  a  pillow,  and  set  it  up  for  a  pillar,  and  poured 
oil  upon  the  top  of  it.  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  assign  a  satisfac- 
tory reason  for  this  act  of  Jacob's.  There  are  so  many  super- 
stitions that  in  later  times  have  been  associated  with  stones, 
and  the  veneration  and  worship  of  stones  reputed  to  be  mi- 
raculous has  been  so  common  among  the  nations,  that  it  is 
a  thing  as  easy  as  it  is  unjust  to  attribute  to  this  act  of 
Jacob's  a  use  and  signification  which  at  least  approaches  to 
those  Gentile  superstitions  which  are  so  often  condemned  in 
the  word  of  God.  It  is  probable  that  Jacob,  who  was  dis- 
tinguished for  the  pillars  (or  monuments)  which  he  erected 
during  his  life-time  (see  vr.  22;  ch.  31:  45;  35:  14;  35:  20), 
set  up  this  stone,  which  was  suitable  for  that  purpose,  without 
any  superstitious  motive,  and  erected  it  as  a  monument  in 
the  place  where  God  had  so  highly  favored  him;  and  as  he 
could  not  then  and  there  offer  a  sacrifice  and  pour  out  drink 
offerings,  as  was  the  custom  of  those  times  (because  he  was 
going  in  great  haste),  from  his  scant  supply  he  poured  oil  upon 
it,  as  a  sign  of  consecrating  it  to  God, — a  use  and  signification 
of  anointing  with  oil  which  dates  from  very  ancient  times. 
Some  30  years,  more  or  less,  after  this,  when  Jacob  returned 
to  Bethel,  to  fulfil  his  vow,  he  offered  there  great  sacrifices 
(see  ch.  35:7  and  comments);  and  when  Jehovah  appeared 
to  him  a  second  time,  and  repeated  and  confirmed  the  covenanted 


846  GENESIS 

promises,  Jacob  erected  in  more  enduring  form  another  pillar 
"in  the  place  where  God  had  spoken  to  him,"  "a  pillar  (or 
monument)  of  stone,  and  poured  out  a  drink  offering  thereon, 
and  poured  oil  thereon."  Ch.  35:  14.  That  which  particularly 
calls  our  attention  here  is  the  fact  that  "Jacob's  stone,"  which 
has  been  the  object  of  so  many  ridiculous  stories  and  so  many 
superstitions,  is  not  mentioned:  we  are  not  told  whether  he 
so  much  as  found  it  there  on  the  second  occasion  or  not;  or 
whether  it  entered  as  a  component  part,  or  any  part  what- 
ever, of  "the  pillar  of  stone"  which  on  the  second  occasion 
he  erected  there:  the  sacred  historian  did  not  regard  it  of 
sufficient  importance  to  tell  us  anything  about  it;  which  of 
itself  is  enough  to  refute  those  silly  stories  which  some  yet 
seek  to  accredit  by  means  of  this  passage,  and  Gen.  49:  24. 

He  gave  also  to  the  place  the  name  of  Beth-el  (=:The  house 
of  God);  although  before  that,  and  for  many  ages  after,  it 
bore  among  the  Canaanites  the  name  of  Luz.  Judg.  1:  23 — 26. 
When  the  Israelites  took  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  300 
years  after  this  (some  say  500),  the  name  Bethel  wholly  sup- 
planted the  old  name  of  Luz. 

Jacob  also  made  there  a  vow,  before  he  continued  his  jour- 
ney; a  vow  which  although  he  delayed  long  to  fulfil  it,  Jehovah 
did  not  forget,  but  made  Jacob  to  remember  it  on  two  occasions 
of  very  bitter  trial  for  him,  and  told  him  that  he  kept  it  fresh 
in  mind,  and  demanded  fulfilment.     Ch.  31:  13  and  35:  1. 

This  is  the  first  vow  of  which  we  have  any  mention  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  subject  is  deserving  of  a  little  attention 
before  we  pass  on.  Vows  are  either  general — like  the  public 
vows  of  the  people  of  Israel  in  the  ancient  times  (Num.  21:  2) 
or  those  of  Christian  people  in  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper — 
sacraments  which  are  also  vows;  or  they  are  particular,  with 
reference  to  some  special  thing  which  an  individual  promises 
to  do.  Vows  were  very  common  under  the  Old  Testament.  In 
the  New  Testament  they  are  mentioned  only  twice:  in  Acts 
18:  18,  where  "Paul  had  shorn  his  head  in  Cenchrea,  because 
he  had  a  vow;"  and  Acts  21:  23,  24,  where  Paul  took  at  his 
charges  four  men  who  had  a  vow;  in  order  to  pay  the  cost  of 
the  sacrifices  and  other  expenses  of  the  ceremonial  observance: 
but  both  of  these  were  vows  under  the  law  of  Moses,  in  which 
Paul  took  part  in  order  to  disarm  the  prejudices  of  the  Jews; 
and  they  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  primitive  Chris- 
tianity. Besides  these,  there  is  no  mention  whatever  of  vows 
in  the  New  Testament;  from  which  we  infer  that  the  particular 
vow  is  lawful  under  the  Christian  dispensation,  but  is  nowhere 


CHAPTER  28:  16—22  347 

recommended,  and  it  would  appear  that  it  was  never  practiced 
as  a  Christian  institution.  In  this  matter  of  vows,  that  is 
to  say,  of  particular  vows  to  do  or  not  to  do  such  and  such 
a  thing,  we  can  profit  by  the  wise  maxim  of  Solomon,  in  Ecc, 
4:4,  5:  "When  thou  vowest  a  vow  unto  God  [for  it  should 
be  made  to  no  other],  defer  not  to  pay  it;  for  he  hath  no 
pleasure  in  fools:  pay  that  which  thou  hast  vowed!  Better 
is  it  that  thou  shouldst  not  vow,  than  that  thou  shouldst  vow 
and  not  pay."  The  general  and  sacramental  vows  to  love  and 
serve  God,  are  enough  for  all  the  intents  of  the  Christian  life; 
nor  were  any  vows  but  these  practiced  during  many  centuries 
of  the  Christian  Church.  Neither  Bingham  in  his  "Ecclesiastical 
Antiquities"  nor  Cavalario  in  his  "Derecho  Canonico"  mention 
the  matter  of  particular  vows  for  many  ages  after  the  Chris- 
tian Era.  In  fact,  Cavalario  says  in  Part  1,  Ch.  41,  Sec.  1,  that 
"in  the  ancient  discipline,  the  monks  made  no  voio  whatever." 

The  whole  system  of  vows  and  "promises,"  which  forms  a 
distinctive  feature  of  Romanism,  is  not  merely  aside  from  the 
Christian  system,  but  is  totally  contrary  to  it.  Vows  to  the 
saints,  "promises"  to  some  one  or  other  of  the  many  "Virgins" 
of  their  "advocation,"  vows  of  celibacy,  of  poverty  and  obe- 
dience (not  to  God,  but  to  an  ecclesiastical  superior),  are  out 
and  out  the  institutions  of  men,  which  have  for  their  object 
and  effect  to  cast  down  the  institutions  of  God.  Comp.  Mark 
7:  6 — 13.  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  vow  is  never  men- 
tioned in  the  New  Testament,  except  as  an  observance  of  the 
old  Levitical  law,  which  was  about  coming  to  its  close,  and 
it  will  be  seen  in  a  moment  that  this  wide  department  of  the 
Romish  system  is  in  great  part  Jewish,  and  in  another  great 
part  pagan,  but  in  nothing  Christian. 

[Note  26. — On  Jacob's  Vow.  The  vow  of  Jacob  is  severely 
criticised  by  some,  as  revealing  the  cautious  and  trafficking 
spirit  of  the  man;  who  instead  of  accepting,  after  the  manner 
of  Abraham,  with  joyful  confidence,  the  great  promises  which 
Jehovah  had  given  him  unconditionally,  interposes  his  own  doubts 
in  the  conditional  form  of  his  vow:  "If  Gk)d  will  be  with  me," 
etc.,  "then  Jehovah  shall  be  my  God,"  etc.  At  first  sight,  the 
criticism  seems  to  be  well  founded,  but  it  is  not  really  so,  or 
not  so  much  as  it  would  seem.  The  conditional  Hebrew  "im," 
which  is  translated  "if,"  expresses  likewise  various  other  re- 
lations, such  as,  "so  then,"  "since,"  etc.;  (see  Job  14:  5,  "seeing 
his  days  are  determined,"  etc.,  A.  V.  and  R.  V.),  and  is  more 
vague  and  of  wider  application  than  "if"  in  English.  Jacob 
also  was  but  a  novice  in  the  things  of  God;   he  had  as  yet  no 


348  GENESIS 

experience  in  the  ways  of  Jehovah,  and  with  this  vision  began 
the  slow  work  of  his  conversion  to  God;  and  if  his  language 
does  express  some  uncertainty,  it  is  that  of  one  who  for  the 
first  time  receives  a  communication  from  heaven.  His  words 
express  the  joyful  acceptance  of  the  divine  promise  and  revela- 
tion, rather  than  distrust  and  the  desire  to  bind  God  with  con- 
ditions about  what  he  had  promised  unconditionally;  and  they 
may  be  translated:  "Since  then  God  will  he  with  me,  etc.,  etc., 
Jehovah  shall  therefore  be  my  God,"  etc.  If  this  had  been  a 
conditional  vow,  Jacob  would  have  waited  20  years  to  see  how 
Jehovah  fulfilled  his  part,  before  taking  him  as  his  God;  whereas 
it  is  clear  that  from  that  moment,  Jehovah  became  the  God  of 
Jacob,  and  that  locality  came  to  be  for  him,  and  for  his,  a  place 
peculiarly  holy,  as  the  site  in  which  Jehovah  had  twice  re- 
vealed himself  to  his  servant  Jacob.  Such  seems  to  be  the 
meaning  of  his  words  with  regard  to  Bethel  (=House  of  God), 
and  not  that  he  would  build  there  a  house  for  Jehovah,  nor 
that  there  he  would  establish  an  altar  for  the  national  worship 
of  Jehovah.  This  did  not  happen  till  Jeroboam  placed  there, 
in  Bethel,  the  principal  for  his  golden  calves  (1  Kings  12:  32,  33) ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  he  alleged  that  this  fulfilled  to  the  letter 
the  vow  of  Jacob. 

With  regard  to  the  tenth  of  all  that  God  should  give  him, 
which  Jacob  promised  to  pay  to  Jehovah,  it  is  probable  that 
he  paid  it  once,  and  once  for  all,  in  an  enormous  hecatomb 
which  he  offered  there  seven  or  eight  years  after  his  return  from 
Padan-aram.  The  fact  is  that  Jacob  delayed  so  long  to  fulfil  this 
part  of  his  vow,  that  God  took  occasion  from  the  rape  of  hfs 
daughter  Dinah,  together  with  the  horrible  vengeance  taken  by 
her  brothers  and  the  imminent  danger  that  the  Canaanites  would 
combine  for  the  extermination  of  Jacob  and  his  race  and  tribe 
(chs.  34  and  35:  1),  to  remind  him  of  his  forgotten  vow,  and 
sent  him  to  Bethel,  as  a  place  of  secure  abode,  where  he  should 
fulfil  that  forgotten  vow.  And  there  he  built  an  altar  "to  the 
God  who  had  answered  him  in  the  day  of  his  distress,"  and 
there  he  fulfilled  his  vow.  Ch.  35:  1—7.  The  attempt  is  as 
futile  and  forced,  as  it  is  frequent,  to  base  on  the  example 
of  Abraham  (see  the  comment  on  ch.  14:  20),  and  on  that  of 
Jacob  in  this  place,  the  obligation  to  pay  tithes.  Abraham 
and  Jacob  paid  tithes  only  once;  the  former,  "the  tenth  part 
of  the  spoils"  taken  in  war  (Heb.  7:4),  and  the  latter  the 
tenth  part  of  the  flocks  and  herds  he  had  acquired  in  Padan- 
aram;  but  they  did  not  continue  to  do  so  year  after  year; 
and  as  they  had  no  temples   to  build,  nor  order  of  priests  to 


CHAPTER  28:  16—22  349 

support,  nor  religious  institutions  to  maintain,  nor  poor  to  pro- 
vide for  (since  they  were  masters  and  proprietors  of  all  that 
people,  and  bound  to  look  after  their  subsistence),  it  is  clear 
that  there  was  no  one  for  them  to  pay  tithes  to,  nor  any  object 
in  which  to  employ  them,  year  after  year,  in  religious  worship. 
See  comments  on  ch.  31:  13  and  35:  1 — 3. 

[Translator's  Note  3. — On  the  Tithe.  Those  over-zealous 
Protestants  who  have  been  anxious  to  fasten  on  the  Evangelical 
Church,  or  on  the  consciences  of  individual  Christians,  the  "Law 
of  the  Tithe,"  seem  not  to  have  examined  carefully  the  history 
of  the  question.  The  Roman  Catholic  canonist,  Domingo  Cava- 
lario,  in  his  Derecho  Canonico"  (Part  II.  Ch.  34)  says  that  "in 
the  first  ages,  the  ministers  of  the  altar  were  sustained  by  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  the  faithful."  As  this  source  of 
revenue  gradually  dried  up,  with  the  decline  of  the  primitive 
type  of  Christianity,  the  Jewish  tithe  law  was  appealed  to  to 
supply  the  deficiency,  as  being  of  divine  obligation  still;  and 
by  the  8th  century  it  was  very  generally  established  in  Europe, 
and  enforced  by  civil  and  canonical  laws.  He  says  that  "the 
tithe  was  not  admitted  in  the  Oriental  Church,  or  if  admitted, 
it  was  afterwards  abolished."  It  is  easy  to  see  that  except 
for  its  tithes,  "first  fruits"  and  other  compulsory  contributions, 
the  civil  and  political  power  of  the  Romish  Church,  and  its 
mighty  corruptions,  could  never  have  reached  the  pitch  they 
did  at  and  before  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  Christ  based 
his  Financial  System  on  the  principle  of  voluntary  contributions; 
intending  that  his  people's  love  to  his  Person,  and  their  belief  in 
his  Kingdom,  should  be  the  exact  measure  of  their  pecuniary 
sacrifices  for  his  sake.  Under  such  a  system,  the  past  and 
present  oppressions  of  the  Papal  Church  would  be  simply  im- 
possible: no  other  Church  but  the  Roman  ever  enacted  the  Law 
of  the  Tithe. 

The  following  points  about  the  Mosaic  tithe  law  can  be  easily 
maintained: 

First,  That  the  Mosaic  tithe  was  marked  by  this  evangelical 
feature,  that  it  was  entirely  voluntary.  The  Papal  Church  in 
the  days  when  it  had  the  civil  power  to  back  it,  had  always 
tithe  collectors,  and  it  farmed  out  this,  like  any  other  branch 
of  revenue.  Moses,  on  the  contrary,  made  no  provision  what- 
ever for  collecting  tithes;  each  individual  paid  his  tithes,  or 
not,  as  he  pleased;  "none  did  compel."  See  Deut.  26:  14;  Mai. 
3:  10. 

Second.  The  tithe  was  a  land-tax  (which  God  claimed  as  the 
great  Land-owner,  Lev.  25:  23)    on  the  produce  of  the  soil  and 


350  GENESIS 

the  increase  of  the  cattle;  and  there  is  no  indication  in  the 
Bible  that  any  but  land-owners  ever  paid  it.  It  was  paid  to 
the  tribe  of  Levi  expressly  on  the  ground  that  they  had  no  part 
in  the  division  of  the  land  of  Israel.  Num.  18:  20 — 24;  Deut. 
10:  9;  12:  12.  Yet  they  had  the  "suburbs"  of  48  cities,  which 
extended  1,000  yards  ("2000  cubits")  in  every  direction  out- 
side of  the  city  wall,  "for  their  cattle,  and  their  substance, 
and  their  beasts";  which  was  no  small  "possession"  in  itself 
(Num.  35:  1 — 7),  aside  from  the  perquisites  of  their  office,  which 
were  generous.  In  the  days  of  Christ,  the  priests  were  the 
wealthy  class  of  the  community,  and  seemingly  more  numerous 
than  the  Levites. 

Third.  The  Mosaic  tithe  was  no  cast-iron  institution,  sacred  to 
the  use  of  the  Levites,  and  which  it  would  be  sacrilege  to  use 
for  any  other  purpose.  On  the  contrary,  the  people  were  allowed 
and  expected  to  furnish  themselves  therefrom  (and  from  the 
firstlings  of  their  flocks  and  herds  as  well),  and  eat  thereof 
before  the  Lord,  as  an  act  of  worship,  when  they  went  to 
attend  the  great  feasts.  Deut.  12:  17,  18;  14:  22,  23.  The  allega- 
tion sometimes  made  that  this  has  reference  to  a  second  tithe, 
or  even  a  third,  has  nothing  to  stand  on,  except  the  groundless 
assumption  that  "all  the  tithe  of  the  land"'  belonged  to  the 
Levites,  and  that  no  part  of  it  could  be  diverted  to  any  other  use. 
On  the  contrary  Moses  says:  "All  the  tithe  of  the  land  is  the 
Lord's;  it  is  holy  unto  the  Lord"  (Lev.  27:  39),  and  only  in  a 
general  way  did  he  give  it  to  the  Levites  and  priests,  requiring 
his  people  also  to  eat  a  part  of  it  before  him,  in  the  place 
"where  he  recorded  his  name  to  dwell  there."  It  would  be  as 
reasonable  to  try  to  make  out  a,  second  set  of  "firstlings"  of 
the  flocks  and  herds  (of  which  also  they  were  to  eat  before  him), 
on  the  ground  that  God  claimed  the  firstlings  of  the  flock  and 
herd  as  his,  and  they  were  to  be  given  to  the  priest.  An  honest 
tithe  of  the  produce  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  would  have 
been  vastly  more  than  the  Levites'  share;  and  that  without  the 
trouble  of  working  for  it.*  Christ's  "yoke  was  easy  and  hi3 
burden  light"  to  his  willing  and  obedient  people,  under  the  Old 
Dispensation  as  well  as  under  the  New. 

"The  Law  of  the  Tithe,"  so  far  as  I  can  learn  from  the 
Bible,  was  a  very  different  thing  in  Moses'  hands  from  what 
many  persons  suppose:  and  yet  it  has  no  place  whatever  in 
the  Financial  System  of  Jesus  Christ.     The  rule  of  a  tenth  all 

♦"The  tithe  of  the  land"  alone  in  the  United  States,  to  say  nothing  of 
its  arts,  manufactures,  mines,  commerce,  trades,  professions,  etc.,  If 
claimed  by  and  paid  to  the  churches  and  their  ministers,  as  of  divine  ob- 
ligation would  be  more  than  sufficient  to  ruin  them  all. — Tr. 


CHAPTER  29:  1—8  351 

around  impeaches  the  wisdom  as  much  as  the  mercy  of  God. 
To  say  that  the  railroad  magnate  and  the  poor  widow;  the 
wealthy  planter  and  the  "one-horse-farmer";  the  successful  and 
the  unfortunate  man;  the  baker,  the  butcher,  the  doctor,  the 
lawyer,  the  small  shopkeeper  and  the  merchant  prince;  the  clerk, 
the  day-laborer,  the  "coal  baron,"  the  great  landed  proprietor; 
the  prosperous  banker,  the  great  or  small  manufacturer,  the 
millonaire  and  the  multi-millionaire,  are  all  alike  bound  by  "the 
law  of  the  tithe,''  is  to  attempt  to  father  the  mistakes  of  earnest 
and  misguided  men  on  the  infinite  wisdom  of  God.  Christ  claims, 
NOT  HIS  people's  TENTH,  BUT  THEIR  ALL;  clalms  it  from  the  poor- 
est of  them,  as  well  as  the  richest;  but  it  lies  with  the  judgment, 
the  piety  and  the  discretion  of  each  individual,  and  his  choice  as 
well,  to  determine  what  part  of  it  he  will  spend  on  his  Master 
and  Lord,  and  what  part  on  himself;  remembering  the  account 
"the  steward"  will  have  to  render  at  last  as  to  how  he  has  spent 
Ms  Lord's  money.  Propoetionate  giving  (wherever  possible),  is 
of  first-class  importance  in  Christian  living;  but  the  proportion 
must  be  left  where  God  has  left  it.  Paul  lays  down  this  general 
principle  that  governs  the  whole  subject:  "Every  one  as  he  hath 
purposed  in  his  heart,  so  let  him  give — whether  the  twentieth,  or 
the  tenth,  or  two-tenths,  or  five-tenths,  or  nine-tenths — not  grudg- 
ingly or  of  necessity;  for  God  loveth  the  cheerful  giver." 
2  Cor.  9:  7.] 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

VES.  1 — 8.      JACOB  JOYFULLY  CONTINUES  HIS  JOUBNEY.      HIS  MEETING 
WITH  THE  SHEPHERDS  OF  HARAN.      (1760  B.  C.) 

1  Then  Jacob  went  on  his  journey,  and  came  to  the  land  of  the 
children  of  the  east. 

2  And  he  looked,  and,  behold,  a  well  in  the  field,  and,  lo,  three 
flocks  of  sheep  lying  there  by  it ;  for  out  of  that  well  they  watered 
the  flocks :  and  the  stone  upon  the  well's  mouth  was  great. 

3  And  thither  were  all  the  flocks  gathered :  and  they  rolled  the 
stone  from  the  well's  mouth,  and  watered  the  sheep,  and  put  the 
stone  again  upon  the  well's  mouth  in  its  place. 

4  And  Jacob  said  unto  them,  My  brethren,  whence  are  ye?  And 
they  said.  Of  Haran  are  we. 

5  And  he  said  unto  them.  Know  ye  Laban  the  son  of  Nahor?  And 
they  said.  We  know  him. 

6  And  he  said  unto  them.  Is  it  well  with  him?  And  they  said, 
It  is  well :  and,  behold,  Rachel  his  daughter  cometh  with  the  sheep. 

7  And  he  said,  Lo,  it  is  yet  high  day,  neither  is  it  time  that  the 
cattle  should  be  gathered  together :  water  ye  the  sheep,  and  go  and  feed 
them. 

8  And  they  said.  We  cannot,  until  all  the  flocks  be  gathered  to- 
gether, and  they  roll  the  stone  from  the  well's  mouth;  then  we  water 
the  sheep. 


352  GENESIS 

In  the  Hebrew,  vr.  1  begins  thus:  "And  Jacob  lifted  up  his  feet 
and  went,"  etc.  The  most  natural  sense  of  this  (following  imme- 
diately as  it  does  upon  the  vision  of  the  preceding  chapter),  is  that 
in  the  joy  of  that  interview  with  the  God  of  his  father  (the  first 
he  ever  had),  and  the  great  promises  which  he  had  made  him, 
Jacob  journeyed  with  light  feet  the  rest  of  that  long  journey 
(something  like  500  miles),  which  he  had  scarcely  begun,  and 
soon  reached  its  end;  or  if  not  so  soon  as  he  would  have  desired, 
the  journey  seemed  short  in  view  of  the  satisfaction  he  carried 
within  his  bosom;  much  like  what  is  told  us  in  vr.  20,  that  the 
seven  years  he  served  Laban,  for  his  daughter  Rachel,  "seemed 
to  him  but  a  few  days,  for  the  love  that  he  had  to  her."  A  Jew- 
ish commentator  says  that  "his  heart  lifted  up  his  feet."  The 
same  phrase,  or  one  like  it,  is  used  in  Ps.  74:  3:  "Lift  up  thy  feet 
unto  the  perpetual  desolations";  which  seems  to  say:  "Come 
quickly,  to  see  and  remedy  our  woeful  lot!" 

Jacob  reached  Karan  without  knowing  where  he  was;  but  see- 
ing a  well  in  the  field  and  three  flocks  lying  about  it,  waiting  for 
the  hour  of  watering,  he  asked,  and  he  learned  from  the  shepherds 
that  he  had  at  last  reached  the  end  of  his  journey.  It  is  possible 
that  this  was  not  the  same  well  where  the  steward  of  Abraham, 
a  hundred  years  before,  met  with  Rebekah  (ch.  24:  11,  13);  or  if 
It  was  the  same,  that  in  the  time  which  had  elapsed  it  had  varied 
much  in  form;  because  then  it  was  a  "fountain,"  and  Rebekah 
went  down  by  steps  and  brought  up  the  water  in  her  pitcher,  and 
continued  to  go  down  and  up  until  she  had  watered  the  ten 
camels  (ch.  24:  16,  22) ;  whereas  here  the  mouth  of  the  well  was 
closed  with  a  stone  placed  over  it,  in  order  to  protect  the  precioua 
supply  of  water. 

The  salutations  which  passed  between  the  shepherds  and  Jacob 
are  of  interest,  as  indicating  the  courteous  address  which  was 
usual  in  that  day.  True  politeness  is  not  tied  to  place  or  time. 
On  asking  of  them  information  about  Laban,  they  told  him  he  was 
well,  and  informed  him  that  his  daughter  Rachel  was  just  then 
coming  with  her  father's  sheep. 

29:  9 — 14.     EACHEL  the  shepherdess.      (1760  b.   c.) 

9  While  he  was  yet  speaking  with  them,  Rachel  came  with  her 
father's  sheep ;  for  she  kept  them. 

10  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jacob  saw  Rachel  the  daughter  of 
Laban  his  mother's  brother,  and  the  sheep  of  Laban  his  mother's 
brother,  that  Jacob  went  near,  and  rolled  the  stone  from  the  well's 
mouth,  and  watered  the  flock  of  Laban  his  mother's  brother. 

11  And  Jacob  kissed  Rachel,  and  lifted  up  his  voice,  and  wept. 

12  And  Jacob  told  Rachel  that  he  was  her  father's  brother,  and 
that  he  was  Rebekah's  son :  and  she  ran  and  told  her  father. 


CHAPTER  29:  9—14  352 

13  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Laban  beard  the  tidings  of  Jacob 
his  sister's  son,  that  he  ran  to  meet  him,  and  embraced  him,  and 
kissed  him,  and  brought  him  to  his  house.  And  he  told  Laban  all 
these  things. 

14  And  Laban  said  to  him.  Surely  thou  art  my  bone  and  my  flesh. 
And  he  abode  with   him  the  space  of  a  month. 

The  fact  that  the  beautiful  Rachel  was  the  shepherdess  of  her 
father's  flock  seemingly  indicates,  (1)  that  her  father's  cattle  in- 
terest was  small,  if  a  woman,  and  apparently  one  woman,  could 
manage  it  all;  (2)  that  the  sons  of  Laban  put  off  the  work  of 
caring  for  the  flock  on  their  younger  sister;  for  there  is  nothing 
to  indicate  that  they  were  not  old  enough,  or  that  they  were 
younger  than  their  sister; — at  a  later  period,  when  the 
flocks  were  more  numerous,  they  took  charge  of  them  (ch. 
30:35);  (3)  that  the  morals  of  those  simple  folk  must  have 
been  good,  and  the  estimation  in  which  they  held  the  honor  and 
virtue  of  women  must  have  been  high,  for  a  young  and  beautiful 
woman,  like  Rachel,  to  expose  herself  to  the  hazards  of  pastoral 
life  without  continual  risk.  But  the  personal  habits  of  people 
make  a  great  difference  in  their  national  customs.  We  know  that 
among  many  primitive  peoples  (and  among  some  modern  ones), 
the  honor  of  a  woman  is  worth  more  than  her  life,  and  the  man 
who  does  violence  to  it  exposes  himself  to  the  gravest  conse- 
quences; of  which  ch.  34:  1 — 7,  31  brings  us  a  frightful  and  hor- 
rible example;  and  under  such  circumstances  women  know  how  to 
take  care  of  themselves,  and  men  learn  to  respect  them  accord- 
ingly. In  Ex.  2:  16 — 17  we  find  the  seven  daughters  of  Jethro, 
the  priest-prince  (or  prince-priest)  of  Midian,  taking  care  of  the 
sheep  of  their  father,  among  rude  shepherds  who  understood  noth- 
ing of  courtesy.  Among  the  ancient  Greeks  it  was  also  the  usage 
that  the  daughters  of  princes  often  performed  the  same  office; 
and  even  today,  among  the  Arabs  of  the  desert,  unmarried  women 
expose  themselves  without  harm  to  the  same  class  of  dangers. 
The  gist  of  it  lies  in  the  much  or  little  esteem  in  which  the  honor 
and  purity  of  woman  is  held,  and  the  responsibility  that  is  thrown 
on  her  to  take  care  of  them:  a  lesson  which  it  were  well  that 
our  evangelical  women  in  Latin  America  and  elsewhere  learn 
soon  and  thoroughly.    See  comments  on  ch.  34:  31. 

On  seeing  the  beautiful  young  woman,  and  learning  the  near 
relationship  which  united  them,  the  feelings  of  Jacob  overcame 
him  completely:  "When  Jacob  saw  Rachel,  the  daughter  of  Laban, 
his  mother's  'brother,  and  the  sheep  of  Laban,  his  mother's  brother, 
he  went  near  and  rolled  the  stone  from  the  well's  mouth,  and 
watered  the  flock  of  Laban,  his  mother's  brother";  phrases  all 
which  attest  the  flood  of  tender  memories  which,  in  that  moment. 


354  GENESIS 

rushed  upon  the  mind  of  the  favorite  son  of  Rebekah; — "his 
mother!"  and  from  that  moment  the  beautiful  Rachel  would  be 
ever  associated  with  that  passionately  fond  mother  that  he  was 
never  more  to  see;  so  that  without  taking  counsel  of  social  usages, 
and  obeying  only  the  impulses  of  his  heart,  Jacob,  in  the  first 
place,  after  watering  her  flock,  impressed  a  kiss  upon  her  lovely 
face,  and  wept  with  effusion;  and  afterwards  he  entered  into  ex- 
planations as  to  his  strange  behavior,  telling  her  who  he  was, 
and  of  the  close  relationship  which  authorized  such  liberties  at  his 
first  interview  with  her.  Jacob  was  at  this  time  about  seventy- 
five  years  of  age;  Rachel  was  perhaps  twenty;  but  this  did  not 
prevent  that  on  his  part  there  should  thus  commence  here  a  story 
of  love  and  tenderness  the  most  romantic  and  tragic  recounted  in 
sacred  history.  As  to  Rachel  herself,  we  need  ask  nothing;  for  in 
matrimonial  affairs  the  women  of  the  East  were  and  still  are 
taught  to  do  as  they  are  bidden. 

[We  note,  in  vr.  12,  that  Jacob  calls  his  uncle  Laban  his 
"brother"  z=z  near  kinsman;  and,  in  vr.  15,  that  Laban  also  calls 
Jacob  his  "brother." — Tr.] 

Thoroughly  surprised  and  frightened,  Rachel  runs  to  carry  the 
news  to  her  father's  house;  Laban  runs  to  meet  the  son  of  his 
sister;  he  embraces  him,  and  brings  him  home,  where  Jacob  gives 
the  news  of  all  the  family,  and  in  particular  tells  him  of  "all 
these  things";  that  is  to  say,  of  the  precipitate  flight,  of  the  cause 
of  it,  and,  in  general,  of  what  had  happened  to  him  in  the  way. 
Tender  and  beautiful  (although  in  ill  accord  with  the  character 
of  the  hard,  rapacious  and  artful  Laban)  was  the  reply  which 
he  made  to  this  story  of  Jacob's:  "Surely  thou  art  my  bone  and 
my  flesh!"  The  phrase  "flesh  and  bone,"  in  the  Bible  always  sig- 
nifies the  nearest  and  most  enduring  relationship  (Gen.  2:  23;  2 
Sam.  19:12,  13;  Eph.  5:30;  comp.  Luke  24:39) :— "flesh  and  Mood" 
is  altogether  a  different  ^thing,  and  signifies  human  nature  con- 
sidered as  corrupt  and  fallen;  it  is  a  symbol  of  corruption  (Matt. 
16:  17;  1  Cor.  15:  50;  Eph.  6:  12);  so  that  the  two  phrases  ought 
never  to  be  confounded. 

29:  15 — 20.    jacob  makes  a  conteact  with  laban  fob  his  daugh- 
ter RACHEL  TO  BE  HIS   Wn<'E.    (1760   B.   C.) 

15  And  Laban  said  unto  Jacob,  Because  thou  art  my  brother, 
shouldest  thou  therefore  serve  me  for  nought?  tell  me,  what  shall  thy 
wages  be? 

16  And  Laban  had  two  daughters :  the  name  of  the  elder  was  Leah, 
and  the  name  of  the  younger  was  Rachel. 

17  And  Leah's  eyes  were  tender ;  but  Rachel  was  beautiful  and 
well-favored. 


CHAPTER  29:  15—20  355 

18  And  Jacob  loved  Rachel;  and  he  said,  I  will  serve  thee  seven 
years  for  Rachel  thy  younger  daughter. 

19  And  Laban  said,  It  is  better  that  I  give  her  to  thee,  than  that 
I  should  give  her  to  another  man :  abide  with  me. 

20  And  Jacob  served  seven  years  for  Rachel :  and  they  seemed  unto 
him  but  a  few  days,  for  the  love  he  had  to  her. 

Jacob  spent  a  month  with  Laban  as  a  visitor;  but  he  did  not 
pass  it  idly,  as  is  evident  from  the  words  of  Laban,  at  the  end  of 
the  month:  "Because  thou  art  my  brother,  shouldst  thou  there- 
fore serve  me  for  naught?  tell  me  what  shall  thy  wages  be?" 
Jacob's  past  life,  according  as  the  Bible  reveals  it  to  us,  had  been 
a  life  of  indolence,  without  ambition  and  without  effort;  he  had 
passed  it  "seated  among  the  tents,"  or  at  most  in  some  womanish 
occupation.  Ch.  25:  27 — 29.  But  after  he  had  encountered  alone 
the  perils  of  the  desert,  no  less  terrible  then  than  now  (Ezra  8: 
22),  and  had  entered  the  house  of  Laban  and  set  his  heart  on 
Laban's  younger  daughter,  God  began  to  apply  the  remedy  to 
this  deeply  rooted  vice  of  his  former  life.  Voluntarily,  therefore, 
he  occupied  himself  with  various  services  during  the  month  he 
passed  as  Laban's  guest. 

Laban  had  two  daughters,  grown  women,  but  unmarried,  and 
therefore  young;  for  they  had  not  yet  been  sought  in  marriage 
(vr.  19),  and  there  was  "good  money"  in  unmarried  daughters. 
Of  his  sons  we  only  know  that  fourteen  years  afterwards  they 
■were  occupied  with  the  care  of  their  father's  sheep  (ch.  30:  35); 
and  since  Laban  was  as  old,  if  not  older  than  Jacob's  mother  (ch. 
24:  50,  51,  55),  his  sons  were  certainly  much  older  than  their 
unmarried  sisters.  Leah,  the  elder  daughter,  if  not  homely,  had 
at  least  some  affection  of  the  eyes  which  gave  her  a  more  or  less 
repulsive  aspect.  The  phrase  "Leah  was  tender-eyed"  is  disputed; 
but  there  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  to  abandon  the  old  and  well 
accredited  translation  of  "tender-eyed,"  or  "sore-eyed,"  as  Amat 
renders  it.  Some  of  the  rabbins  have  maintained  that  Leah  was 
much  given  to  meditation  and  prayer,  and  that  by  reason  of  her 
many  tears,  her  eyes  had  become  inflamed;  and  that  for  her  piety 
Jehovah  had  given  her  the  preference  above  her  beautiful  sister. 
But  this  is  purely  a  rabbinical  conceit.  The  Bible  tells  us  nothing 
of  the  kind;  and  Leah  was  certainly  born  and  bred  an  idolatress 
and  a  pagan.  See  comments  on  ch.  31:  19,  20,  and  35:  2.  Her 
tender  eyes  were  no  doubt  a  natural  defect,  as  the  extreme  beauty 
of  Rachel  was  natural.  The  English  translation  "beautiful  and 
well  favored"  does  not  bring  out  the  exact  sense  of  the  Hebrew, 
which  is,  as  given  in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version,  "of  a  handsome 
figure  and  beautiful  countenance" — two  things  that  go  to  consti- 
tute the  perfection  of  beauty,  both  in  women  and   men.     With 


356  GENESIS 

these  identical  words  the  Hebrew  text  describes  the  manly  beauty 
of  the  son  of  Rachel,  Joseph,  in  ch.  39:  6.  From  the  first  day, 
therefore,  Jacob,  who  came  to  Haran  for  the  purpose  of  seeking  a 
wife  among  the  daughters  of  Laban,  had  already  made  his  choice; 
and  in  the  act  he  answered  Laban:  "I  will  serve  thee  seven  years 
for  Rachel,  thy  younger  daughter!" 

It  appears  to  us  unaccountable  that  Jacob,  whose  father  was 
rich  and  recognized  as  a  great  man  in  the  land  of  Canaan  (ch. 
26:  13 — 16),  and  who  seemingly  would  have  had  no  difficulty  in 
making  the  fact  undubitably  certain  that  he  was  the  son  of 
Isaac  and  Rebekah,  should  find  himself  in  the  necessity  of  paying 
so  dearly  the  dowry  of  a  wife;  and  that,  to  the  brother  of  his 
mother,  who  without  a  single  day's  delay  had  consented  to  send 
her  off  with  the  steward  of  Abraham,  to  be  the  wife  of  Isaac,  Ch. 
24:  50,  51.  Those  ten  camel-loads  of  the  choicest  of  Abraham's 
possessions  appear  to  have  made  the  difference,  in  those  days, 
when  the  husband,  or  his  family,  paid  the  dowry  to  the  father 
of  the  woman;  instead  of  the  woman  (as  in  our  day  is  the  frequent 
custom)  bringing  the  dowry  to  the  husband.  Isaac  well  under- 
stood the  Oriental  usage,  and  could  hardly  have  believed  that 
Jacob  would  obtain  a  wife  from  among  the  daughters  of  his 
uncle,  without  paying  the  inevitable  dowry;  which  varied  in 
quantity  according  to  the  quality  and  resources  of  the  suitor. 
Perhaps  Isaac  did  not  dare  to  send  after  him  the  dowry  which 
would  give  effect  to  his  solicitation;  perhaps  he  could  not  do  it 
before  the  question  of  the  birthright  was  settled  and  it  was  de- 
termined what  part  of  the  estate  would  fall  to  each  of  his  sons; 
perhaps  it  was  (and  this  is  the  more  probable)  that  the  blind 
passion  of  Jacob,  singular  in  a  man  of  his  age,  and  his  impatience 
to  make  sure  of  the  woman  of  his  choice,  did  not  allow  his  father 
time;  for  without  waiting  for  his  father  to  have  notice  of  his  safe 
arrival,  he  at  once  took  advantage  of  Laban's  question  to  rush  into 
his  ill-advised  offer  and  engagement  to  serve  him  seven  years  for 
his  daughter  Rachel, — an  agreement  which  for  fourteen  years 
placed  him  completely  in  the  power  of  a  pitiless  master,  "whose 
tender  mercies  were  cruel."  Perhaps  also  Laban,  who  in  a  month's 
time  had  become  perfectly  well  acquainted  with  the  blind  passion 
of  his  nephew,  had  already  traced  out  this  plan  to  gain  a  most 
useful  worker  without  cost  to  himself;  but  in  any  case,  the  work- 
ing out  of  this  matter  was  of  the  Lord,  who  chose  his  own  means 
for  the  conviction,  the  conversion  and  the  salvation  of  Jacob,  put- 
ting him  in  the  hands  of  a  man  even  more  rapacious,  more  cal- 
culating, more  astute,  and  less  scrupulous  than  he  himself  had 
been. 


CHAPTER  29:  21—30  357 

It  was  and  is  still  said  to  be  the  custom  among  the  Orientals 
(the  Bedouin  Arabs,  for  example),  to  give  the  daughter  in  mar- 
riage to  the  first  near  kinsman  who  claims  her,  amongst  those 
who  may  legitimately  take  her;  and  the  first-cousin  always  has 
the  most  privileged  claim  to  the  hand  of  his  cousin;  provided  the 
dowry  he  pays  be  satisfactory,  and  there  be  no  other  impediment; 
which  well  explains  the  prompt  reply  of  Laban:  "It  is  better  that 
I  give  her  to  thee,  than  that  I  should  give  her  to  another  man; 
abide  with  me";  with  which  words  he  concluded  and  closed  the 
business,  which  was  truly  a  good  bargain  for  him,  and  a  very  bad 
one  for  Jacob;  but  just  there  entered  the  rod  of  correction  for  his 
many  and  great  sins.  Any  other  man  in  Haran  might  have 
married  Rachel,  if  Jacob  had  not  claimed  her,  by  means  of  the 
payment  of  fifty  sheep,  or  six  camels,  or  a  dozen  cows;  while 
Jacob  bargained  for  seven  years'  service  of  a  slave,  and  paid  them 
with  fourteen  years  of  such  service  (ch.  31:  38 — 42);  and  under 
the  favoring  hand  of  God,  he  caused  the  few  sheep  that  Rachel 
had  tended  to  grow  into  a  great  multitude.  Ch.  30:  30.  Beautiful 
and  touching  is  the  declaration  that  "Jacob  served  seven  years  for 
Rachel;  and  they  seemed  to  him  but  a  few  days,  for  the  love  he 
had  to  her."  Vr.  20.  In  our  day  such  a  lover  would  have  died  of 
impatience  in  much  less  than  seven  years;  but  the  Orientals  were 
and  are  of  a  different  disposition,  and  know  how  to  wait  calmly 
for  many  years,  in  order  to  effect  a  purpose,  whether  of  love  or  of 
vengeance,  on  which  the  heart  is  set. 

29:  21 — 30.  the  bitteb  disappointment  that  overtakes  jacob, 
who,  monogamist  as  he  was,  greatly  against  his  will  finds 
himself  in  possession  of  two  wives,  instead  of  one  only. 

(1753    B.    C.) 

21  And  Jacob  said  unto  Laban,  Give  me  my  wife,  for  my  days  are 
fulfilled,  that  I  may  go  in  unto  her. 

22  And  Laban  gathered  together  all  the  men  of  the  place,  and 
made  a  feast. 

23  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  evening  that  he  took  Leah  his 
daughter,  and  brought  her  to  him ;  and  he  went  in  unto  her. 

24  And  Laban  gave  Zilpah  his  handmaid  unto  his  daughter  Leah 
for  a  handmaid. 

25  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  morning  that,  behold,  it  was  Leah : 
and  he  said  to  Laban,  What  is  this  thou  hast  done  unto  me?  did  not  I 
serve  with  thee  for  Rachel?  wherefore  then  hast  thou  beguiled  me? 

26  And  Laban  said.  It  is  not  so  done  in  our  place,  to  give  the 
younger  before  tlie  first-born. 

27  Fulfil  the  week  of  this  one,  and  we  will  give  thee  the  other  also 
for  the  service  which  thou  shalt  serve  with  me  yet  seven  other  years. 

28  And  Jacob  did  so,  and  fulfilled  her  week :  and  he  gave  him 
Rachel  his  daughter  to  wife. 

29  And  Laban  gave  to  Rachel  his  daughter  Bilhah  his  handmaid 
to  be  her  handmaid. 


358  GENESIS 

30  And  he  went  in  also  unto  Rachel,  and  he  loved  also  Rachel 
more  than  Leah,  and  served  with  him  yet  seven  other  years. 

But  before  his  seven  years  had  expired,  the  astute  Laban  had 
other  plans  laid.  Jacob's  management  and  service  had  been  so 
profitable  to  him  (ch.  30:  27 — 30),  that  without  having  any  pity 
for  the  poor  man,  he  devised  the  most  cruel  deception  that  a 
demon  could  invent  or  a  Laban  execute,  and  which  left  the  un- 
happy Jacob  without  any  recourse  whatever,  except  to  bow  his 
head  submissively,  and  serve  his  father-in-law  fourteen  years,  in- 
stead of  seven,  in  order  to  get  possession  of  the  woman  he  loved: 
not  that  he  served  the  second  period  of  seven  years  before  taking 
Rachel,  but  he  gained  possession  of  her  under  promise  of  seven 
years  more  of  the  service  of  a  slave;  a  promise  which  he  was 
obliged  to  fulfil,  under  penalty  of  finding  himself  deprived  of 
both  wives  and  of  all  the  property  he  may  have  acquired.  Ch. 
31:  31 — 42.  "We  do  not  know  whether  Laban  had  in  mind  the 
tricks  and  deceits  by  which  Jacob  had  robbed  Esau  of  his  birth- 
right and  his  blessing;  but  God  doubtless  had  them  in  view,  and 
he  made  Jacob  to  reap  accordingly  as  he  had  sown,  and  during 
the  twenty  years  he  spent  in  the  house  of  Laban,  he  doubtless 
often  brought  it  to  Jacob's  remembrance,  in  order  to  bring  him  to 
repentance  for  these  and  all  his  sins. 

When  the  term  of  the  first  seven  years  had  expired,  Jacob 
claimed  from  Laban  the  possession  of  the  woman  for  whom  he  had 
toiled  with  patient  hope.  Laban  readily  consented  to  this,  and 
celebrated  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  with  a  great  feast,  to 
which  he  invited  ''all  the  men  of  the  place'" ;  according  to  the  usage 
of  those  times;  the  women  did  not  participate  in  the  feast,  or  in 
the  ceremony  either — if  there  was  any  ceremony.  It  would  seem 
that  there  was  none,  any  more  than  there  was  in  the  case 
of  Isaac  and  Rebekah.  Ch.  24:  G7.  The  wickednesses  of  men 
have  made  necessary  both  ci\  il  laws  and  religious  rites  in  connec- 
tion with  marriage,  which  among  us  ought  to  be  always  observed. 
It  is  clear  that  in  the  case  of  Jacob  there  was  no  ceremony,  nor 
any  marriage  vows.  All  the  guests  knew  that  it  was  the  marriage 
feast  of  Jacob  and  Rachel.  Jacob  had  paid  the  dowry,  and  very 
dearly,  and  the  woman  was  his  property,  without  anything 
further;  and  Laban  had  no  choice  but  to  deliver  her  person,  in 
order  that  Jacob  might  have  her  in  complete  possession.  So  it  is 
that  Rachel  and  Leah  speak  of  the  matter  in  ch.  31:  14,  15: 
"And  Rachel  and  Leah  answered  and  said  unto  him:  'Is  there  yet 
any  portion  or  inheritance  for  us  in  our  father's  house?  Are  we 
not  counted  of  him  strangers?  For  he  hath  sold  us,  and  also  hath 
quite  devoured   our   money.' "     Matrimonial   vows   are  only   pro- 


CHAPTER  29:  21—30  359 

nounced  between  free  persons.  Rachel  was  not  free,  but  bought 
and  paid  for;  neither  was  Leah  free,  except  to  do  her  father's 
bidding.  And  in  fact,  in  Hebrew  the  only  word  (and  an  unfre- 
quent  one)  for  "husband"  is  "baal,"  which  signifies  owner  and 
lord.    See  Isa.  62:  5. 

Everything  went  well  in  the  marriage  feast  of  Jacob  and  Rachel, 
until  the  conclusion  of  it,  when  the  cunning  Laban  carried  Leah, 
completely  covered  with  her  veil,  to  the  tent  of  Jacob;  and  in 
silence  and  darkness  she  came  to  be  the  wife  of  the  deceived  lover 
of  Rachel. 

The  excuse  which  Laban  offered  when  the  next  day  Jacob  re- 
proached him  bitterly  for  the  deceit  he  had  practiced  on  him,  may 
possibly  have  some  appearance  of  truth,  according  to  the  custom 
which  is  said  to  obtain  among  the  Hindus,  that  both  the  sons  and 
the  daughters  ought  to  marry  in  the  order  of  their  birth;  but  there 
is  nothing  in  the  Bible  which  goes  to  show  that  there  was  any 
such  usage  among  the  Hebrews,  or  among  the  pagans,  except  in 
this  place;  and  here  it  is  evidently  a  falsehood  in  its  principal 
part,  if  not  altogether.  If  it  were  not  so,  the  elder  would  likewise 
have  to  be  bargained  for  before  the  younger;  or  at  least  the 
younger  would  have  to  be  promised  on  condition  of  the  previous 
marriage  of  the  elder.  The  dowry  having  been  paid,  there  was 
neither  usage  nor  law  that  would  tolerate  the  exchange  of  one 
daughter  for  the  other,  any  more  than  the  exchange  of  one  ox  or 
ass  for  another,  after  the  price  agreed  upon  had  been  paid.  Jacob 
had  lived  seven  years  in  that  country;  sufficient  time  to  have  be- 
come acquainted  with  its  customs,  and  to  know  whether  he  could 
marry  the  younger  daughter  or  not;  something,  too,  which  would 
have  also  called  the  attention  of  the  guests,  if  such  had  been  the 
usage  in  Haran.  The  commentators  who  accept  for  truth  the  alle- 
gation of  Laban,  little  know  how  much  easier  it  was  and  is  for  the 
Orientals  to  lie  than  to  speak  the  truth.  Laban  had  traced  out  his 
plan — a  plan  which  left  Jacob  no  remedy  except  to  be  silent  and 
submit.  Jacob  was  completely  in  the  power  of  Laban,  and  was 
as  far  from  the  possession  of  the  beloved  Rachel  as  he  was  when 
he  made  his  ill-advised  contract  seven  years  before;  and  though 
he  did  not  wish  to  serve  seven  days  for  the  possession  of  Leah,  he 
found  himself  in  the  necessity  of  serving  seven  years  more,  14 
years  altogether,  to  gain  possession  of  Rachel.  He  accepted, 
therefore,  with  ill  grace,  the  iniquitous  terms  which  Laban  im- 
posed upon  him,  of  fulfilling  Leah's  week,  giving  thus  his  public 
consent  to  his  union  with  her;  after  which  Laban  gave  him 
Rachel  also,  on  the  express  condition  that  he  was  to  continue 
his  past  service  for  seven  years  longer:  and  Jacob  took  Rachel, 


360  GENESIS 

apparently  without  any  marriage  feast,  or  any  marriage  ceremony. 
This  remark,  which  I  frequently  repeat,  will  not  be  needless  among 
Roman  Catholic  peoples,  who  believe  that  marriage  is  a  sacra- 
ment, and  that  its  validity  consists  in  the  rite  or  the  form  with 
which  it  is  celebrated,  and  the  power  and  intention  of  the  cele- 
brant. Until  the  day  of  his  death,  Jacob  did  not  regard  any 
woman  but  Rachel  as  his  rightful  and  proper  wife;  and  not  with- 
out good  cause  (see  ch.  44:  27,  Comp.  ch.  33:  2);  and  until  his 
dying  day  his  heart  still  burned  in  singular  tenderness  toward  this 
woman,  then  more  than  40  years  dead.  Ch.  48:  7.  On  their  mar- 
riage, Laban  gave  to  Leah  his  servant  Zilpah  as  her  waiting- 
maid:  and  to  Rachel  he  gave  Bilhah. 

29:  31 — 35.     leah  bears  four  soxs  to  jacob,  and  eachel  none. 
(From  1752  to  1749  b.  c.) 

31  And  Jehovah  saw  that  Leah  was  hated,  and  he  opened  her 
womb  :  but  Rachel  was  barren. 

32  And  Leah  conceived,  and  bare  a  son,  and  she  called  his  name 
Reuben  :  for  she  said,  Because  Jehovah  hath  looked  upon  my  afflic- 
tion ;  for  now  my  husband  will  love  me. 

33  And  she  conceived  again,  and  bare  a  son :  and  said.  Because 
Jehovah  hath  heard  that  I  am  hated,  he  hath  therefore  given  me  this 
son  also ;  and  she  called  his  name  Simeon. 

34  And  she  conceived  again,  and  bare  a  son ;  and  said.  Now  this 
time  will  my  husband  be  joined  unto  me,  because  I  have  borne  him 
three  sons :   therefore  was  his  name  called  Levi. 

35  And  she  conceived  again,  and  bare  a  son  :  and  she  said,  This 
time  will  I  praise  .Tehovah :  therefore  she  called  his  name  Judah ; 
and  she  left  off  bearing. 

All  the  six  sons  of  Leah  and  one  daughter  were  born  before 
Joseph,  whose  birth  did  not  occur  till  after  Jacob  had  completed 
his  fourteen-year  contract,  and  just  before  he  began  a  new  arrange- 
ment with  Laban.  Ch.  30:  25—34.  The  seven  children  of  Leah, 
therefore,  were  born  in  the  space  of  seven  years.  Jacob  married 
at  the  end  of  the  first  seven  years  he  had  spent  with  Laban; 
Joseph  was  born  at  the  end  of  his  fourteen  years  of  service;  after 
which  he  made  his  contract  for  the  last  six  years  of  service,  in 
which  he  gained  his  property;  and  Joseph  was  the  youngest  of 
the  eleven  children  born  in  Padan-aram;  so  that  the  Bible  shows 
that  children  were  born  to  Leah  with  extraordinary  rapidity, — one 
each  year,  for  seven  consecutive  years. 

We  have  already  observed,  and  more  than  once,  the  particular 
providence  of  God  in  the  reproduction  of  the  human  race,  as  is 
expressly  declared  in  Ps.  127:  3  and  John  9:2,  3.  We  have  also 
called  attention  to  the  little  difference  which  the  Bible  makes  be- 
tween what  God  does  directly  and  indirectly;  that  is  to  say,  by  his 
immediate  power,  or  by  the  interposition  of  second  causes.     If  it 


CHAPTER  29:  31—35  361 

be  the  purpose  of  God  and  part  of  his  plan,  it  little  matters  what 
are  the  means  by  which  he  effects  it,  be  they  many,  or  few,  or 
none  whatever.  The  distinction  is  for  us  important;  but  in  view 
of  the  pantheistic  tendency  of  the  day  to  refer  nothing  to  God, 
which  can  be  accounted  for  by  secondary  causes,  it  is  often  yet 
more  important  to  lose  sight  of  the  distinction  (as  is  seen  in  vr. 
31  and  ch.  30:  2),  and  say  with  Jesus:  "Your  heavenly  Father 
viaketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  the  good,  and  sendeth 
rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust";  and,  "If  God  so  clothe  the  grass 
of  the  field,  which  today  is,  and  tomorrow  is  cast  into  the  oven, 
how  much  more  will  he  clothe  you,  oh  ye  of  little  faith?"  Matt. 
5:  45. 

"Whatsoever  Jehovah  pleased,  that  hath  he  done, 

in  heaven  and  in  earth,  in  the  seas  and  iu  all  deeps." 

Ps.  135:  6. 

"And  Jehovah  saw  that  Leah  was  hated,"  and  he  gave  her  the 
compensation  and  happiness  of  bearing  children;  but  Rachel  was 
barren.  After  the  horrible  imposture  which  Laban  had  practiced 
on  Jacob,  and  in  which  Leah,  whether  contrary  to  her  will,  or 
with  her  full  consent,  took  a  principal  part,  it  was  not  humanly 
possible  that  he  should  fail  to  hate  her.  If  therefore  he  regarded 
her  with  indifference  before,  on  seeing  and  knowing  the  infamous 
deception  by  which  they  had  wounded  him  in  so  tender  a  part, 
he  could  not  regard  her  with  less  than  undissembled  repugnance; 
which  it  cost  him  many  efforts  and  long  years  to  overcome.  Those 
commentators,  therefore,  lose  their  time  who  would  draw  from  thia 
text  of  the  Bible  the  inference  that  the  word  "hate"  is  sometimes 
used  in  the  sense  of  to  love  less*  The  Oriental  manner  of  con- 
tracting marriage  makes  the  love  of  husband  and  wife  a  thing 
little  known  among  them  (see  comment  on  ch.  24:67);  how 
much  more,  then,  in  the  case  of  Jacob  and  Leah?  The  names 
which  she  gave  successively  to  her  first  four  sons,  and  in  fact  to 
all  her  seven  children,  clearly  reveal  the  thought  which  continually 
occupied  her  heart, — some  means  of  winning  the  love  of  her  hus- 
band. She  called  the  first  "Reuben"  which  means  to  say  "Behold 
a  son!"  The  second:  "Simeon,"  which  means  "Heard!"  the 
•woman  was  asking  God  for  children.  The  third,  "Levi"  =  "Union" 
or  "United  with,"  making  clear  every  time  the  thirst  of  her  heart 

•This,  I  imagine,  is  not  maintained  seriously,  but  only  as  an  awkward 
attempt  to  explain  the  difficult  words  of  Christ,  in  Luke  14  :  26.  But  there 
the  supposed  disciple  is  to  "hate  his  father,  and  his  mother,"  etc.,  only 
iu  the  same  sense  as  he  is  to  "hate  his  own  life  also";  and  this,  only  in 
the  same  sense  as  Samson's  wife  said  to  him :  "Thou  dost  but  hate  me, 
and  lovest  me  not!"  (Judg.  14  :  16)  ;— "because,  forsooth,  he  would  not  do 
as  she  wanted  him  to  do ! — Tr. 


362  GENESIS 

for  some  part  of  the  tenderness  which  Jacoh  lavished  upon  the 
beloved  but  barren  Rachel.  In  some  respects  this  reminds  us  of 
the  case  of  Elkanah  and  Hannah,  the  mother  of  the  prophet 
Samuel.  1  Sam.  1:  2 — 8.  In  those  days  when  a  numerous  family 
was  regarded  as  a  special  favor  and  gift  of  God,  Leah  could  not 
understand  why  her  husband  should  not  love  her,  at  least  for  the 
children  she  bore  him.  The  fourth,  therefore,  she  called  "Judah" 
(=  Praise),  exclaiming:    "Now  will  I  praise  Jehovah!" 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
VES.  1 — 13.     JACOB  WITH  FOUR  wrVES,  INSTEAD  OF  ONE  ONLY. 

(From  1749  to  1747  b.  c.) 

1  And  when  Rachel  saw  that  she  bare  Jacob  no  children,  Rachel 
envied  her  sister ;  and  she  said  unto  Jacob,  Give  me  children,  or  else 
I  die. 

2  And  Jacob's  anger  was  kindled  against  Rachel :  and  he  said.  Am 
I  in  God's  stead,  who  hath  withheld  from  thee  the  fruit  of  the 
womb? 

3  And  she  said.  Behold,  my  maid  Bilbah,  go  in  unto  her;  that 
she  may  bear  upon  my  l^nees,  and  I  also  may  obtain  children  by  her.* 

4  And  she  gave  him  Bilbah  her  handmaid  to  wife :  and  Jacob  went 
in  unto  her. 

5  And  Bilhah  conceived,  and  bare  Jacob  a  son. 

6  And  Rachel  said,  God  hath  judged  me,  and  hath  also  heard  my 
voice,  and  bath  given   me  a  son  :   therefore  called  she  his  name  Dan. 

7  And  Bilhah  Rachel's  handmaid  conceived  again,  and  bare  Jacob 
a  second  son. 

8  And  Rachel  said.  With  mighty  wrestlings  have  I  wrestled  with 
my  sister,  and  have  prevailed  :  and  she  called  his  name  Naphtali. 

9  When  Leah  saw  that  she  had  left  off  bearing,  she  took  Zilpah 
her  handmaid,  and  gave  her  to  Jacob  to  wife. 

10  And  Zilpah  Leah's  handmaid  bare  Jacob  a  son. 

11  And   Leah   said.   Fortunate!   and   she  called  his  name  Gad, 

12  And  Zilpah  Leah's  handmaid  bare  Jacob  a  second  son. 

13  And  Leah  said,  Happy  am  I !  for  the  daughters  will  call  me 
happy :  and  she  called  his  name  Asher. 

♦Ifeb.  be  builded  by  her. 

Jacob  who  was  the  most  passionate  of  lovers,  and  who  was  a 
monogamist  by  conviction  and  preference,  saw  himself  by  cir- 
cumstances forced  to  become  a  polygamist,  and  in  possession  of 
four  different  wives.  Rachel  regarded  with  envy  the  increasing 
family  of  her  sister;  and  her  desperation  increased  to  such  a 
pitch  that  she  said  to  Jacob:  "Give  me  children,  or  else  I  die!" 
Jacob  wearied  with  the  petulance  and  complaints  of  his  wife,  an- 
swered her  angrily:  "Am  I  in  God's  stead,  who  hath  withheld 
from  thee  the  fruit  of  the  womb?"  To  remedy  the  case,  Rachel 
made  use  of  Sarah's  expedient  (ch.  16:  2,  3),  and  gave  to  her 
husband  her  servant  Bilhah,  in  order  to  "'build  herself  up"  (ac- 
cording to  the  Hebrew  phrase)  by  her  means,  in  the  understanding 


CHAPTER  30:  14—21  363 

that  the  mother  being  her  slave,  the  child  would  be  hers  also. 
It  is  the  same  word  that  Sarah  uses  in  ch.  16:  2;  and  it  is  im- 
portant to  bear  in  mind  this  use  of  the  phrase  "build  herself  up," 
or  "build  her  house";  for  there  are  passages  in  the  Bible  which 
cannot  be  properly  understood  without  the  use  of  this  key.  See 
Ruth  4:  11;  Prov.  14:  1. 

Out  of  the  family  of  Abraham,  God  chose  only  one;  out  of  the 
family  of  Isaac,  only  one;  but  it  was  time  that  the  family  should 
begin  to  expand  itself,  in  order  to  become  a  nation;  and  in  the 
family  of  Jacob  we  find  "the  twelve  patriarchs"  (Acts  7:3),  the 
heads  of  "the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel."  "With  a  view  to  this,  God 
made  use  of  the  emulation  of  the  two  sisters,  in  the  work  of 
"building  the  house  of  Israel."  Ruth  4:  11.  Rachel  obtained  her 
object  in  having  a  son  by  her  servant  Bilhah,  and  under  the  im- 
pression that  God  had  at  last  done  her  justice,  she  called  him 
"Dan"  (=  Judge  or  Judged), — to  do  justice  to  one  being  the  most 
common  sense  of  "to  judge"  in  Hebrew.  See  Ps.  43:  1;  Luke  18:  3, 
7.  Again  she  bore  him  a  son,  whom  Rachel  named  Naphtali, 
(=My  wrestling),  saying  "With  mighty  wrestlings  iHel).  wrest- 
lings of  God)  I  have  wrestled  with  my  sister,  and  have  prevailed!" 
— words  which  bear  testimony  to  the  vehemence  of  the  envy  that 
consumed  her;  and  the  variance  and  strifes  of  the  two  mothers 
were  of  evil  augury  for  the  peace  of  the  numerous  family  that  was 
being  founded. 

Leah,  not  to  see  herself  overtaken  in  this  rivalry  of  "building 
the  house  of  Israel,"  took  her  servant  Zilpah  and  gave  her  to 
Jacob  for  his  fourth  wife;  and  she  bore  him  a  son,  whom  Leah 
called  "Gad"  (=  Good  fortune),  exclaiming:  "Fortunate!"  Others 
who  give  to  Gad  the  sense  the  word  has  in  ch.  49:  19,  "a  troop," 
give  as  her  exclamation:  "A  troop  cometh!"  which  probably 
would  express  her  desire  of  numerous"  and  valiant  posterity. 
When  Zilpah  gave  her  another  son,  she  called  his  name  "Asher" 
(=  Happy),  exclaiming  "How  happy  am  I!  for  the  daughters  will 
call  me  happy." 

30:  14 — 21.      LEAH  HAS  TWO  MORE  SONS  AND  ONE  DAUGHTEE. 

(1748-1745  B.  c.) 

14  And  Reuben  went  in  the  days  of  wheat  harvest,  and  found 
mandrakes  in  the  field,  and  brought  them  unto  his  mother  Leah,  Then 
Rachel  said  to  Leah,  Give  me.  I  pray  thee,  of  thy  son's  mandrakes. 

15  And  she  said  unto  her.  Is  it  a  small  matter  that  thou  hast  taken 
away  my  husband?  and  wouldest  thou  take  away  my  son's  mandrakes 
also?  And  Rachel  said,  Therefore  he  shall  lie  with  thee  to-night  for 
thy  son's  mandrakes. 

16  And  Jacob  came  from  the  field  in  the  evening,  and  Leah  went 
out  to  meet  him,  and  said,  Thou  must  come  in  unto  me;  for  I  have 


364  GENESIS 

surely   hired   thee  with   my   son's   mandrakes.     And   he  lay   with  her 
that  night. 

17  And  God  hearkened  unto  Leah,  and  she  conceived,  and  bare 
Jacob  a  fifth  son. 

18  And  Leah  said,  God  hath  given  me  my  hire,  because  I  gave  my 
handmaid  to  my  husband  :  and  she  called  his  name  Issachar. 

19  And  Leah  conceived  again,  and  bare  a  sixth  son  to  Jacob. 

20  And  Leah  said,  God  hath  endowed  me  with  a  good  dowry ;  now 
will  my  husband  dwell  with  me,  because  I  have  borne  him  six  sons : 
and  she  called   his  name  Zebulun. 

21  And  afterwards  she  bare  a  daughter,  and  called  her  name 
Dinah. 

On  the  supposition  that  Dinah  was  born  but  little  before  Joseph, 
he  being  born  when  Jacob  had  finished  fourteen  years  of  the 
twenty  he  served  Laban  (vrs.  25 — 28;  ch.  31:  41),  Reuben  would 
at  that  time  be  about  six  years  of  age.  The  mention  of  the  wheat 
harvest,  in  which  time  mandrakes  ripen,  gives  us  to  understand 
that  Jacob  and  Laban  did  not  occupy  themselves  exclusively  in  the 
raising  of  cattle,  but  that  they  took  some  part  in  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil.  The  "mandrakes"  which  Reuben  found  in  the  field 
and  brought  to  his  mother.  Is  a  word,  which  in  Hebrew  signifies 
"love  apples,"  for  their  supposed  virtue  in  promoting  the  con- 
ception of  children;  an  opinion  which  still  exists  in  Oriental  coun- 
tries. This  gives  a  particular  significance  to  Rachel's  request 
that  Leah  would  give  her  a  part  of  the  mandrakes  of  her  son; 
and  the  hard  reproof  which  Leah  administers  in  response  to  her 
petition,  together  with  the  agreement  that  the  two  entered  into, 
give  a  sad  proof  of  the  petulance  and  selfishness  of  Rachel,  and  of 
the  complete  control  which  she  at  that  time  exercised  over  the 
mind  and  the  person  of  Jacob.  This  time  it  is  Leah  who  envies 
her  sister,  who  had  taken  exclusive  possession  of  the  husband. 
Vr.  17  bears  testimony  as  to  how  the  afflicted  Leah  besought  of 
Jehovah  children  and  more  children:  "God  hearkened  unto 
Leah,"  and  she  bore  a  fifth  son  to  Jacob,  in  addition  to  the  two  she 
had  given  him  by  her  servant  Zilpah.  It  is  singular  how  she, 
in  the  ignorance  of  her  scanty  spiritual  illumination,  converts  into 
a  meritorious  good  work  her  having  given  to  her  husband  her 
maid-servant  for  a  wife.  So  far  was  she  from  regarding  polygamy 
as  a  sin,  that  she  accepted  this  new  son  as  a  recompense  which 
God  had  given  her  for  so  excellent  a  work!  an  ideal  which  she 
incorporated  with  the  name  "Issachar  (z="Hire"  or  "Recom- 
pense") which  she  gave  him.  There  are  still  a  multitude  of  opin- 
ions and  judgments  which  men  hold,  expecially  in  questions  of 
morals  and  religion,  which  are  not  less  extravagant  than  this  of 
Leah,  although  they  regard  them  as  very  correct.  Once  more 
Leah  gave  birth  to  a  son,  and,  sighing  always  for  the  good  she  had 
not  yet  obtained,  she  said:     "God  hath  endowed  me  with  a  good 


CHAPTER   30:  22—36  365 

dowry;  now  will  my  husband  dwell  with  me,  because  I  have  borne 
him  six  sons!  and  she  called  his  name  Zebulon  =  "Dwelling." 
Once  more  she  became  a  mother;  but  this  time  a  daughter  was 
born,  whom  she  called  "Dinah"  (=" Judged,  or  Vindicated,"  the 
feminine  form  of  "Dan");  thinking  always  on  the  justice  which 
God,  if  not  man,  had  done  her. 

"With  regard  to  the  delicate  (or  "indelicate")  matters  treated  of 
in  this  paragraph,  and  some  others  of  the  chapter  (and  of  the 
book  as  well),  which  serve  for  the  scandal  of  unreflecting  or  ill- 
intentioned  persons,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  remind  the  reader  that 
these  histories  were  not  written  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  20th 
century  of  the  Christian  Era,  but  in  the  realistic  style  of  the 
simple  people  of  past  ages;  and  it  would  have  been  a  great  pity 
to  deprive  the  people  who  lived  3000  or  4000  years  ago  of  the  style 
and  usage  proper  to  their  country  and  their  day,  in  order  to  meet 
the  views  of  the  cultured  and  the  uncultured  people  of  this  20th 
century  of  grace.  Persons  of  real  culture  and  good  sense  in  our 
day,  who  wish  to  derive  profit  from  what  in  ancient  times  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  pleased  to  have  written  for  the  instruction  of 
all  ages,  will  know  how  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  uses 
and  circumstances  of  remote  times,  without  being  scandalized 
that  the  ancients  did  not,  in  their  social  intercourse,  speak  and 
act  in  our  present  accepted  style. 

30:  22 — 24.    rachel  is  at  last  a  mother  (1745  b.  c.) 

22  And  God  remembered  Rachel,  and  God  hearkened  to  her,  and 
opened  her  womb. 

23  And  she  conceived,  and  bare  a  son  :  and  said,  God  hath  taken 
away  my  reproach  : 

24  and  she  called  his  name  Joseph,  saying,  Jehovah  add  to  me 
another  son. 

Seven  years  of  reproach  and  of  impatient  waiting  she  had 
borne,  and  her  first  exclamation  bears  witness  to  her  immense 
satisfaction  on  seeing  "her  reproach  among  men  taken  away" 
Luke  1:25.  She  called  him  "Joseph"  (—"Will  add"),  saying: 
"Jehovah  will  add  to  me  another  son";  manifesting  thus  the 
force  of  her  passion  to  have  children;  without  even  suspecting 
how  much  that  second  son  was  to  cost  her.    Ch.  35:  18. 

30:  25 — 36.    the  new  contract  which  jacob  makes  with  laban. 
(1745  B.  c.) 

2.5  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Rachel  had  borne  Joseph,  that  Jacob 
said  unto  Laban,  Send  me  away,  that  I  may  go  unto  mine  own  place, 
and  to  my  country. 

26  Give  me  my  wives  and  my  children  for  whom  I  have  served 
thee,  and  let  me  go :  for  thou  knowest  my  service  wherewith  I  have 
served  thee. 


366  GENESIS 

27  And  Laban  said  unto  him,  If  now  I  have  found  favor  in  thine 
eyes,  tarry:  for  I  have  divined  that  Jehovah  hath  blessed  me  for  thy 
sake. 

28  And  he  said,  Appoint  me  thy  vpages,  and  I  will  give  it. 

29  And  he  said  unto  him.  Thou  knowest  how  I  have  served  thee, 
and  how  thy  cattle  have  fared  with  me. 

30  For  it  was  little  which  thou  hadst  before  I  came,  and  it  hath 
increased  unto  a  multitude  ;  and  Jehovah  hath  blessed  thee  whither- 
soever I  turned:*  and  now  when  shall  I  provide  for  mine  own  house 
also? 

31  And  he  said,  What  shall  I  give  thee?  And  Jacob  said.  Thou 
shalt  not  give  me  aught ;  if  thou  wilt  do  this  thing  for  me,  I  will  again 
feed  thy  flock  and  keep  it. 

32  I  will  pass  through  all  thy  flock  to-day,  removing  from  thence 
every  speckled  and  spotted*  one,  and  every  blackf  one  among  the 
sheep,  and  the  spotted  and  speckled  among  the  goats :  and  of  such 
shall  be  my  hire. 

33  So  shall  my  righteousness  answer  for  me  hereafter,  when  thou 
shalt  come  concerning  my  hire  that  is  before  thee :  every  one  that  is 
not  speckled  and  spotted  among  the  goats,  and  blackf  among  the 
sheep,  that,  if  found  with  me,  shall  be  counted  stolen. 

34  And  Laban  said.  Behold,  I  would  it  might  be  according  to  thy 
word. 

35  And  he  removed  that  day  the  he-goats  that  were  ringstreaked 
and  spotted,  and  all  the  she-goats  that  were  speckled  and  spotted, 
every  one  that  had  white  in  it,  and  all  the  blackf  ones  among  the 
sheep,  and  gave  them  into  the  hand  of  his  sons ; 

36  and  he  set  three  days'  journey  betwixt  himself  and  Jacob :  and 
Jacob  fed  the  rest  of  Laban's  flocks. 

*Heb.  at  my  foot.  [fA.  V.  brown.] 

For  the  first  time  in  fourteen  years  Jacob  was  a  free  man.  He 
had  at  last  escaped  from  the  ill-made  engagement  in  which  his 
imprudent  precipitation  to  secure  possession  of  his  beloved 
Rachel,  had  Involved  him.  He  had  now  four  wives  and  twelve 
children,  eleven  sons  and  one  daughter,  but  nothing  more.  Not- 
withstanding this,  Joseph  was  hardly  born  when  Jacob  resolutely 
demanded  that  Laban  send  him  away,  in  order  that  he  might  re- 
turn to  his  own  country  and  the  house  of  his  father.  He  doubt- 
less counted  upon  "the  part  of  the  goods"  of  his  father  which 
was  to  "fall  to  him,"  as  the  younger  son.  Luke  15:  12.  In  any 
case,  he  wished  as  soon  as  possible  to  get  away  from  the  house, 
and  the  power,  and  the  presence  of  that  man  who  had  always 
behaved  so  unjustly  toward  him.  Laban,  however,  who  knew  by 
experience  the  value  of  the  labors  of  his  son-in-law,  or  as  he 
himself  expresses  it,  Tioiv  much  Jehovah  had  ilessed  him  for 
Jacob's  sake  (vr.  27),  did  not  wish  to  terminate  an  association 
which  had  been  so  advantageous  to  himself;  and,  speaking  as 
to  his  own  equal,  he  tells  him  to  name  his  wages  and  that  he 
would  cheerfully  pay  them.  The  words  "I  have  divined  (Mod. 
Span.  Ver.  'I  have  carefully  observed')  that  Jehovah  hath  blessed 
me  for  thy  sake,"  are  in  Hebrew:  "I  divined  by  serpents,"  etc. 
This  is  the  first  time  that  we  meet  with  divination  in  the  Bible, 


CHAPTER  30:  37—43  367 

and  it  manifests  from  T>-Iiat  remote  ages  tlie  arts  of  divination 
have  been  practiced,  when  the  word  itself  had  become  a  synonym 
for  patient  and  profound  investigation,  as  in  this  place:  it 
teaches  us  also  how  divination  goes  hand  in  hand  with  idolatry. 
When,  therefore,  Laban  asked  the  second  time,  under  what 
conditions  Jacob  would  continue  in  his  service,  and  how  much 
he  should  pay  him,  Jacob  replied  that  he  should  not  pay  him 
anything;  but  that  he  would  be  satisfied  to  take  as  his  hire  a 
certain  class  of  the  cattle,  to  wit,  the  black  among  the  sheep 
and  the  spotted  and  speckled  among  the  goats,  after  having 
separated  all  such  from  among  the  cattle  of  Laban;  saying  that 
these  alone  should  thenceforward  constitute  his  pay,  and  that 
any  others  found  among  the  cattle  which  he  claimed  as  his  should 
be  accounted  as  stolen.  Doubtless  Jacob  had  already  carefully 
studied  out  his  plan,  which  seemed  to  make  it  certain  that  all  the 
increase  of  the  cattle  would  be  for  Laban.  The  astute  and 
selfish  father-in-law  accepted  the  proposal  with  rejoicing,  and 
on  that  same  day  he  set  apart  all  the  speckled  and  spotted  and 
striped,  and,  in  a  word,  all  that  had  any  white  in  them,  among 
the  goats,  and  all  that  was  black  among  the  sheep,  and  committed 
them  to  the  charge  of  his  own  sons,  separating  these  from 
Jacob  by  a  three  days'  journey;  so  then  only  a  gift  of  God 
could,  place  cattle  of  such  marks  among  those  which  remained 
in  the  keeping  of  Jacob. 

•  [It  is  not  quite  certain  just  what  were  the  "black"  sheep  that 
were  to  fall  to  Jacob's  lot,  according  to  the  Revised  Version. 
The  A.  V.  translates  the  word  "brown;"  and  as  the  Hebrew 
Hu7n,  or  chum,  so  rendered,  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  Hebrew 
Bible,  it  can  only  be  inferred  from  its  derivation  from  an  obso- 
lete root  meaning  to  be  burned  or  scorched,  that  any  swarthy, 
or  blackish  brown,  color  will  do  as  well.  Probably  no  sheep  are 
ever  really  black.  The  Reina-Valera  Version  translates  it  "of  a 
dark  color." — Tr.] 

30:  37 — 43.    the  invention  of  jacob  to  change  the  color  of  the 
YOUNG  THAT  SHOULD  BE  BOKN.     (From  1745  to  1739  B.  c.) 

37  And  Jacob  took  him  rods  of  fresh  poplar,  and  of  the  almond 
and  of  the  plane-tree ;  and  peeled  white  streaks  in  them,  and  made  the 
white  appear  which  was  in  the  rods. 

38  And  he  set  the  rods  which  he  had  peeled  over  against  the  flocks 
in  the  gutters  in  the  watering-troughs  where  the  flocks  came  to 
drink;  and  thev  conceived  when  thev  came  to  drink. 

39  And  the  flocks  conceived  before  the  rods,  and  the  flocks  brought 
forth  rinccstreakpd,  speckled,  and  spotted. 

40  And  .Lncob  separated  the  lambs,  and  set  the  faces  of  the  flocks 
toward  the  ringstreaked  and  all  the  black  in  the  flock  of  Laban  :  and 
he  put  his  own  droves  apart,  and  put  them  not  unto  Laban's  flock. 


368  GENESIS 

41  And  it  came  to  pass,  whensoevor  the  stronger  of  the  flock  did 
conceive,  that  Jacob  laid  the  rods  before  the  eyes  of  the  flock  in  the 
gutters,  that  they   might  conceive  among  the  rods ; 

42  but  when  the  flock  were  feeble,  he  put  them  not  in:  so  the 
feebler  were  Laban's,  and  the  stronger  Jacob's. 

43  And  the  man  increased  exceedingly,  and  had  large  flocks,  and 
maid-servants  and  men-servants,  and  camels  and  asses. 

With  regard  to  the  expedient  which  Jacob  adopted  in  order  to 
change  the  colors  of  the  young  of  the  cattle  which  remained  ex- 
clusively in  his  care,  I  do  not  regard  myself  as  competent  to 
express  an  opinion.  It  is  well  known  that  in  certain  conditions 
of  pregnant  females,  both  of  animals  and  of  the  human  family, 
any  vivid  impression  which  is  made  upon  the  senses,  is  capable 
of  being  impressed  on  the  young  with  indelible  characters;  and 
it  was  of  this  fact  that  Jacob  availed  himself  to  produce  such 
impressions  at  the  time  of  conception.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  natural  effect  of  his  expedient,  Jacob  always  attributed  the 
result  to  the  particular  providence  of  God;  so  he  desired  that  it 
should  appear,  and  so  it  doubtless  was,  whether  by  the  means 
which  Jacob  adopted,  or  without  them.  See  ch.  31:  8 — 16.  The 
sense  of  vr.  33  of  the  preceding  section  is  clear,  but  the  proper 
translation  is  difficult.  It  means  to  say  that  when  Laban  came 
to  examine  the  flocks  of  his  son-in-law,  the  very  color  of  the 
cattle  would  bear  testimony  to  Jacob's  unquestionable  honesty; 
and  so  it  happened,  in  fact,  that  when  Laban  and  his  sons  became 
more  and  more  irritated  against  Jacob,  because  of  his  sudden 
and  extraordinary  prosperity,  they  could  not  find  among  the* 
cattle  of  Jacob  any  that  was  not  his,  according  to  the  terms  of  the 
contract  made  with  Laban.  With  regard  to  the  honorableness 
of  his  expedient,  I  have  less  difl^culty.  Dealing  with  a  heartless 
extortioner  like  Laban,  "whose  tender  mercies  were  cruel" 
(Prov.  12:  10),  any  means,  short  of  robbery  or  cheating,  would 
be  honorable,  in  order  to  gain  a  just  part  of  the  fruit  of  his 
twenty  years  of  arduous  toil;  especially  when  it  was  God  who 
protected  and  favored  him  therein.  See  ch.  31:  12,  13.  It  seems 
that  Jacob  himself  had  no  great  confidence  in  his  invention,  but 
that  he  and  his  wives  attributed  the  astonishing  increase  of  his 
riches  to  the  direct  providence  of  God, 

The  distinction  which  vrs.  41  and  42  make  between  the 
stronger  and  the  weaker  cattle,  demands  an  explanation.  The 
cattle  born  in  the  early  spring-time  are  the  stronger;  those  that 
come  later  are  the  weaker.  The  meaning  of  the  passage  is  that 
in  the  spring  season,  when  the  stronger  cattle  was  in  breeding, 
Jacob  made  use  of  his  invention;  but  when  the  time  of  the  less 
vigorous  came,  he  did  not  use  it;  gaining  thus  not  only  in  the 


CHAPTER  31:  1—3  269 

quantity  but  in  the  quality  of  his  cattle.  And  God  condescended 
to  make  use  of  this  natural  means,  to  defend  his  servant  Jacob 
against  the  rapacity  of  Laban,  and  make  amends  to  him  for  the 
years  lost  in  the  service  of  a  cruel  master.  "So  the  man  in- 
creased exceedingly,  and  had  large  flocks,  and  maidservants,  and 
menservants,  and  camels,  and  asses."  Thus  Jehovah  showed 
that  he  had  not  forgotten  the  promise  he  made  in  Bethel  to  the 
fugitive  Jacob,  but  that  even  in  the  years  when  his  work  seemed 
to  inure  only  to  the  profit  of  Laban,  he  was  laying  solid  founda- 
tions for  the  future  prosperity  and  greatness  of  Jacob. 

"Trust  in  him  at  all  times,  ye  people! 

pour  out  your  heart  before  him: 

God  is  a  refuge  for  us!"    Ps.  62:  8. 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

-yES.  1 — 3.  THE  SUDDEN  PROSPERITY  OF  JACOB  COMPLETELY  RUPTXJEE3 
HIS  GOOD  RELATIONS  WITH  LABAN  AND  HIS  SONS.  GOD  COMMANDS 
HIM  TO  RETURN  TO  HIS  OWN  LAND.      (1739   B.  C.) 

1  And  he  heard  the  words  of  Laban's  sons,  saying,  Jacob  hath 
taken  away  all  that  was  our  father's ;  and  of  that  which  was  our 
father's  hath  he  gotten  all  this  glory. 

2  And  Jacob  beheld  the  countenance  of  Laban,  and,  behold,  it  was 
not  toward  him  as  beforetime. 

3  And  Jehovah  said  unto  Jacob,  Return  unto  the  land  of  thy 
fathers,  and  to  thy  kindred ;  and  I  will  be  with  thee. 

Laban  and  his  sons  were  thoroughly  satisfied  during  the  four- 
teen years  that  God  blessed  the  estate  of  Laban  for  the  sake  of 
Jacob;  but  when  the  latter  had  now  an  interest  of  his  own,  and 
God  was  blessing  him  surprisingly,  the  sons  of  Laban  accused 
him  of  robbing  their  father  to  enrich  himself.  Jacob  had 
foreseen  this  case,  and  as  he  had  none  among  his  cattle  of  the 
colors  that  belonged  to  Laban  they  had  no  real  basis  of  complaint; 
especially  as  their  father  had  gladly  accepted  the  agreement. 
Ch.  30:  33,  34.  Apparently  Laban  said  nothing;  but  his  sons 
talked,  and  talked  with  the  intention  of  being  heard.  As  they 
had  taken  away  from  Jacob  all  human  possibility  of  having 
even  one  animal  of  these  particular  colors,  and  according  to  the 
allegation  of  Jacob  in  vrs.  7  and  8,  Laban,  to  suit  himself,  had 
changed  the  conditions  of  the  contract  "ten  times,"  that  is  to 
say,  a  great  many  times,  but  still  the  young  of  the  flocks  were 
born  more  numerous  and  better  for  Jacob  than  for  Laban,  it  is 
plain  that  it  was  God  who  did  it;  and  as  Jacob  was  not  capable 
of  giving  new  and  different  skins  to  the  cattle  which,  as  they 


370  GENESIS 

said,  he  had  stolen  from  their  father,  it  is  probable  that  they 
accused  him  of  using  magic  or  witchcraft  to  gain  his  purpose; 
an  accusation  to  which  the  peeled  rods  of  Jacob  would  lend  the 
appearance  of  truth,  if  they  had  notice  of  them.  But  besides  the 
loquacious  upbraidings  of  the  sons,  Jacob  noticed  that,  although 
Laban  himself  said  little  or  nothing,  his  countenance  had  com- 
pletely changed  toward  him;  which  gave  him  concern,  knowing 
perfectly  as  he  did  what  Laban  was  capable  of  doing.  But  God 
came  to  resolve  his  doubts  with  a  positive  command  that  he 
should  return  to  his  kindred  and  to  the  land  of  his  fathers; 
giving  him  besides  the  express  promise  that  he  would  be  with 
him.  In  giving  him  this  command,  he  made  use  of  a  favorable 
juncture,  when  Laban  was  absent  from  home,  having  gone  a 
three  days'  journey  to  attend  the  shearing  of  his  sheep  (vr.  19) ; 
which  was  always  a  time  of  feasting  and  of  general  rejoicing. 
Ch.  38:  14;  1  Sam.  25:  2—7;  2  Sam.  13:  23,  24. 

31:  4 — 16.  JACOB  CALLS  HIS  WIVES,  HE  EXPLAINS  TO  THEM  THE 
CASE,  AND  TELLS  THEM  OF  THE  ORDER  WHICH  GOD  HAD  GIVEN  HIM 
TO  RETURN  TO  HIS  OWN  COUNTRY;  ALL  OF  WHICH  THEY  AT  ONCE 
AGREE  TO.      (1739  B.  C.) 

4  And  Jacob  sent  and  called  Rachel  and  Leah  to  the  field  unto  his 
flock, 

5  And  said  unto  them,  I  see  your  father's  countenance,  that  it  is 
not  toward  me  as  beforetime ;  but  the  God  of  my  father  hath  been 
with  me. 

6  And  ye  know  that  with  all  my  power  I  have  served  your  father. 

7  And  your  father  hath  deceived  me,  and  changed  my  wages  ten 
times;  but  God  suffered  him  not  to  hurt  me. 

8  If  he  said  thus,  The  speckled  shall  be  thy  wages ;  then  all  the 
flock  bare  speckled :  and  if  he  said  thus,  The  ringstreaked  shall  be 
thy  wages  :  then  bare  all   the  flock  ringstreaked. 

"9  Thus  God  hath  taken  away  the  cattle  of  your  father,  and  given 
them  to  me. 

10  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  time  that  the  flock  conceive,  that 
I  lifted  up  mine  eyes,  and  saw  in  a  dream,  and,  b^hnld,  the  he-goats 
which  leaped  upon  the  flock  were  ringstreaked,  speckled,  and  grizzled. 

11  And  the  angel  of  God  said  unto  me  in  the  dream,  Jacob :  and 
I  said.  Here  am  I. 

12  And  he  said.  Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and  see:  all  the  he-goats 
which  leap  upon  the  flock  are  ringstreaked.  speckled,  and  grizzled: 
for  I  have  seen  all  that  Laban  dneth  unto  thee. 

13  I  am  the  God  of  Beth-el,  where  thou  anointedst  a  pillar,  where 
thou  vowedst  a  vow  nnto  me:  now  arise,  get  thee  out  from  this  land, 
and  return  unto  the  land  of  thy  nativity. 

14  And  Rachel  and  Leah  answered  and  said  unto  him.  Is  there  yet 
any_  portion  or   inheritance  for  us  in  our  father's  house? 

15  Are  we  not  accounted  by  him  as  foreigners*?  for  he  hath  sold 
us,  and  hath  also  quite  devoured  our  money. 

16  For  all  the  riches  which  God  hath  taken  away  from  our  father, 
that  is  ours  and  our  children's :  now  then,  whatsoever  God  hath  said 
unto  thee,  do. 

[*.l    v.,  M.  8.  v.,  strans-ers.] 


CHAPTER  31:  17—21  371 

The  paragraph  is  very  clear  and  requires  no  explanations;  but 
there    are    three    things    which    especially    call    our    attention: 

1st.  That  the  "Angel  of  God"  by  whose  particular  providence 
the  wealth  of  Jacob  had  increased  so  astonishingly,  tells  him 
expressly:  "/  am  the  God  of  Bethel,  where  thou  anointedst  a 
pillar  and  where  thou  vo-v^edst  a  vow  unto  me"  (vr.  13);  the 
which  "Angel"  and  the  which  "God  of  Bethel"  were  indisputably 
the  same  "Jehovah"  whom  he  had  seen  in  vision  at  the  top  of  the 
stairway  (not  the  "ladder,"  as  it  is  commonly  called),  and  who 
there  said  to  him:  "I  am  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Abraham  thy 
father,  and  the  God  of  Isaac."  Ch.  28:  13.  "Angel"  means  a 
"messenger"  or  "one  sent."  If  therefore  this  Angel  was  sent, 
who  was  it  that  sent  him?  More  than  sixty  times  in  the  New 
Testament  Jesus  calls  himself,  or  is  called,  in  one  or  another 
form,  "the  sent  One."  See  John  7:  16;  12:  49;  1  John  4:  14. 
How  faithful  is  our  God  in  fulfilling  his  promises!  and  of  how 
much  needed  good  and  restfulness  of  spirit  we  deprive  our- 
selves by  not  trusting  in  him  with  illimitable  confidence!  For 
more  than  fourteen  years  it  seemed  that  "the  God  of  Bethel" 
had  completely  forgotten  his  promise,  while  he  was  only  wait- 
ing the  most  favorable  juncture  to  work. 

2nd.  These  Oriental  women,  while  submitting  to  the  com- 
mand and  disposal  of  their  father,  did  not  on  that  account  fail 
to  see  the  injustice  of  his  procedure,  and  the  dishonor  with  which 
he  was  treating  them:  "Is  there  yet  any  portion  or  inheritance 
for  us  in  our  father's  house?  Are  we  not  accounted  of  him 
strangers?  For  he  hath  sold  us,  and  he  hath  also  quite  devoured 
our  money."  They  were  therefore  ready  to  accompany  Jacob  at 
once,  in  obedience  to  all  that  God  had  commanded. 

3rd.  In  vrs.  4  and  14  the  name  of  Rachel  takes  precedence  of 
Leah's;  a  distinction  which  Jacob  never  failed  to  make,  in 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  she  only  was  his  proper  wife.  Comp. 
Ruth  4:  11,  and  see  the  comments  on  chs.  33:  2;  44:  27. 

81:  17 — 21.      JACOB   AERANGES    HIS   ESTATE,    AND    SETS    OUT   UPON    HIS 
JOUENEY,   FLEEING   WITH    SECEECY.       (1739    B.    C.) 

17  Then  Jacob  rose  up,  and  set  his  sons  and  his  wives  upon  the 
camels ; 

18  and  he  carried  away  all  his  cattle,  and  all  his  substance  which 
he  had  gathered,  the  cattle  of  his  getting,  which  he  had  gathered  in 
Paddan-aram,  to  go  to  Isaac  his  father  unto  the  land  of  Canaan. 

19  Now  Laban  was  gone  to  shear  his  sheep ;  and  Rachel  stole  the 
ternphim*  that  were  her  father's. 

20  And  Jacob  stole  away  unawares  to  Labanf  the  Syrian,  in  that 
he  told  him  not  that  he  fled. 

[*=bousehoia  gods.]  ^Heh.  stole  the  heart  of  Laban. 


372  GENESIS 

21  And  he  fled  with  all  that  he  had ;  and  he  rose  up,  and  passed 
over  the  River,  and  set  his  face  toward  the  mountain  of  Gilead. 

When  Laban  divided  his  cattle  into  two  parts,  and  placed  in 
the  hands  of  his  sons  all  those  whose  produce  would  be  to  the 
profit  of  Jacob,  he  placed  a  three  days'  journey  between  the  two, 
leaving  in  Jacob's  hands  only  the  cattle  whose  young  would 
naturally  fall  to  Laban.  Ch.  30:  35,  36.  Laban's  home  was  no 
doubt  in  Haran  as  before,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  family  of 
Jacob  was  there  also,  he  having  his  cattle  in  the  fields  or  country 
near  by.  Laban  had  gone  at  that  time  to  the  shearing  of  his 
sheep,  which  were  a  three  days'  journey  from  home;  so  that 
Jacob  without  difficulty  or  embarrassment  arranged  his  affairs, 
gathered  his  family,  his  cattle,  and  all  his  property — all  that 
was  properly  and  indisputably  his  own  (vrs.  21,  36 — 38),  and 
straightway  took  his  journey.  Doubtless  he  had  for  days  past 
been  making  the  necessary  arrangements;  so  that  without  diffi- 
culty or  loss  of  time  he  set  forth,  and  forded  the  river  Euphrates 
(called  constantly  "the  River,"  in  the  Old  Testament),  which 
was  a  comparatively  short  distance  away;  and  turning  short  to 
the  left,  he  took  a  S.  W.  course,  directing  his  steps  toward  the 
mountain  region  of  Gilead,  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan.  Jacob  had 
stolen  away,  and  took  all  possible  care  to  get  as  far  ahead  as  he 
could,  before  Laban  had  word  of  his  departure.  That  is  a  singular 
Hebrew  phrase  which  expresses  the  idea  of  this  secret  flight.  Vr. 
20  says  literally:  "And  Jacob  stole  the  heart  of  Laban  the 
Syrian,  in  that  he  did  not  tell  him  that  he  fled." 

For  the  first  time  we  have  here  a  reference  to  "household  gods" 
(or  "domestic  idols,"  Heb.  teraphim),  so  well  known  among  the 
ancient  Romans  under  the  name  of  "lares"  or.  of  "penates,"  and 
no  less  well  known  among  modern  Roman  Catholics  under  the 
name  of  "tutelar  saints"  or  "patrons";  before  whose  images  or 
pictures,  carefully  guarded  in  the  house,  they  burn  lamps  or 
candles,  night  and  day.  All  this  is  one  and  the  same  thing, 
with  a  change  of  names.  The  teraphim — the  family  gods,  or  do- 
mestic idols,  so  often  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  were  of  different 
kinds  and  sizes.  Michal,  the  daughter  of  Saul  and  wife  of 
David,  had  one  of  them  in  her  house,  of  the  size  of  a  man, 
or  which  might  well  represent  a  man,  covered  with  the  bed 
clothes,  and  with  his  head  lying  on  a  pillow  of  goat's  hair. 
1  Sam.  19:  13.  But  here  they  were  so  small  that  Rachel 
could  without  difficulty  place  two  or  more  of  them  under- 
neath her,  among  the  baggage  of  her  camel,  on  which  she  took 
her  seat.  It  is  probable  that  Laban  called  these  (as  read  in  the 
Modern  Spanish  Version)   "the  gods  of  Abraham  and  the  gods 


CHAPTER  31:  22—30  37^ 

of  Nahor,  the  gods  which  were  of  their  father,"  Terah.  Vr.  53. 
We  know  from  ch.  35:  2,  that  the  people  and  immediate  family 
of  Jacob  brought  with  them  from  Haran,  and  retained  still  in 
their  possession,  their  strange  gods  (which,  if  teraphim,  or 
household  gods,  would  be  of  the  same  class),  until  Jacob  de- 
manded them,  and  buried  them  beneath  an  oak  or  terebinth,  in 
Shechem;  and  it  costs  us  no  diflBculty  to  believe  that  Rachel  stole 
those  of  her  father  for  her  own  use,  or,  in  any  case,  by  way  of 
precaution,  to  deprive  him  of  the  help  she  supposed  they  might 
give  him  at  a  time  so  critical  as  that  of  the  flight  of  Jacob. 
The  daughters  of  Laban  naturally  participated  in  the  idolatries  of 
their  father  and  his  family,  and  only  little  by  little  were  they 
thoroughly  cleansed  of  it.  See  ch.  35:  2.  It  is  important  to 
know  Jacob  and  his  family  just  as  the  Bible  represents  them,  and 
not  as  we  would  wish  they  had  been;  as  is  the  use  of  many  per- 
sons, and  even  of  some  commentators. 

31:  22 — 30.     laban  follows  after  Jacob,  and  oveetakes  him  in 
the  mountain  countey  of  gilead.     (1739  b.  c.) 

22  And  it  was  told  Laban  on  the  third  day  that  Jacob  was  fled. 

23  And  he  took  his  brethren  with  him,  and  pursued  after  him 
seven  days'  journey ;  and  he  overtook  him  in  the  mountain  of  Gilead. 

24  And  God  came  to  Laban  the  Syrian  in  a  dream  of  the  night, 
and  said  unto  him,  Take  heed  to  thyself  that  thou  speak  not  to  Jacob 
either  good  or  bad. 

25  And  Laban  came  up  with  Jacob.  Now  Jacob  had  pitched  his 
tent  in  the  mountain  :  and  Laban  with  his  brethren  encamped  in  the 
mountain  of  Gilead. 

26  And  Laban  said  to  Jacob,  What  hast  thou  done,  that  thou  hast 
stolen  away  unawares  to  me,  and  carried  away  my  daughters  as  cap- 
tives of  the  sword? 

27  Wherefore  didst  thou  flee  secretly,  and  steal  away  from  me, 
and  didst  not  tell  me,  that  I  might  have  sent  thee  away  with  mirth 
and  with  songs,  with  tabret  and  with  harp ; 

28  and  didst  not  suffer  me  to  kiss  my  sons  and  my  daughters?  now 
hast  thou  done  foolishly. 

29  It  is  in  the  power  of  my  hand  to  do  you  hurt ;  but  the  God  of 
your  father  spake  unto  me  yesternight,  saying,  Take  heed  to  thyself 
that  thou  speak  not  to  Jacob  either  good  or  bad. 

30  And  now,  though  thou  wouldest  needs  be  gone,  because  thou 
sore  longedst  after  thy  father's  house,  yet  wherefore  hast  thou  stolen 
my  gods? 

On  the  third  day  after  Jacob  had  fled,  Laban  had  word  of  it; 
and  "taking  with  him  his  brethren,"  he  started  with  all  speed  in 
pursuit  of  Jacob.  In  order  to  do  this,  he  would  need,  first,  to 
return  home  (ordinarily  a  three  days'  journey),  and  then  gather 
his  people  and  friends,  a  numerous  company  (Esau  went  on  the 
same  errand  with  400  men,  ch.  32:  6),  all  which  would  require 
some  time.  The  words  "his  brethren"  (comp.  ch.  29:  4;  31:  37) 
is  used  with  much  latitude  in  the  Bible,  and  does  not  confine  ua 


274  GENESIS 

by  any  means  to  his  own  immediate  family,  though  the  con- 
nection was  large  (ch.  22:  20 — 24),  but  embraced  his  and  their 
partizans  and  friends  and  neighbors,  dependents  and  servants, 
who  all  readily  enlisted;  for  poor  Jacob  had  evidently  few 
friends  in  Haran,  after  twenty  years  of  residence  there;  he  was 
not  the  man  to  make  friends  readily.  With  these  he  pursued 
after  Jacob  a  seven  days'  journey,  and  overtook  him  in  the 
mountain  country  of  Gilead;  "Mount  Gilead,"  say  Valera  and  the 
English  Version;  "in  the  mountain  of  Gilead,"  says  the  R.  V. 
These  were  naturally  forced  marches,  and  give  us  no  idea  of  the 
distance  he  traveled.  Nor  do  we  know  how  much  time  he  would 
lose  in  returning  to  Haran,  and  gathering  his  people,  before  he 
set  out  on  this  seven  days'  journey.  The  distance  for  Jacob  would 
not  be  less  than  350  miles,  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances and  by  the  shortest  route;  and  with  a  large  encampment 
and  several  thousand  head  of  cattle  of  all  kinds  (see  the  com- 
ment on  ch.  32:  14,  15),  however  much  he  might  hurry  his 
march,  he  would  need  fifteen  or  twenty  days  to  cover  the 
distance  between  Haran  and  the  mountains  of  Gilead  where  they 
met.  Laban  came  prepared  to  recover  everything,  and  with  the 
probable  intention  of  killing  Jacob,  or  reducing  him  to  his  former 
servitude.  But  God  came  to  him  in  dreams  of  the  night,  and  com- 
manded him:  "See  that  thou  speak  not  to  Jacob  either  good  or 
evil;"  words  which  of  course  are  not  to  be  understood  as  they 
read;  but  they  gave  him  to  understand  that  he  should  take  good 
care  what  he  said  or  did  to  Jacob;  for  He  was  his  protector, 
and  would  see  to  his  defence.  In  days  like  these,  in  which 
unbelievers  abound,  who  deny  the  possibility  of  a  divine  revela- 
tion, it  is  important  to  fix  attention  on  the  fact  that  God  had  no 
more  difficulty  in  communicating  with  bad  men  than  with  good; 
and  that  Laban  had  no  more  doubt  of  what  God  said  to  him  than 
of  what  Jacob  said  to  him. 

In  Hebrew,  "mount,"  "mountain,"  "mountain  country"  and 
"Cordillera"  or  "mountain  range"  are  all  one;  so  that  it  comes  to 
be  impossible  to  distinguish  between  the  "mountain  country  of 
Gilead"  and  "Mount  Gilead;"  the  former  being  the  name  of  an 
elevated  region  to  the  east  of  Jordan,  some  60  miles  long  by 
20  wide,  of  2,000  or  3,000  feet  elevation  above  the  ocean,  or 
4,000  feet  above  the  river  Jordan  and  the  waters  of  the  Dead 
Sea;  while  "Mount  Gilead"  is  the  most  elevated  point  of  this 
mountain  range,  situated  some  miles  south  of  the  river  Jabbok, 
and  which  bears  till  today  the  same  name  in  Arabic  form.  From 
this  there  results  a  complete  entanglement  in  our  endeavors  to 
clear    up    the    movements    of   Jacob    in    these    chapters;    and    no 


CHAPTER  31:  22—30  375 

commentary  that  I  have  seen  even  attempts  to  make  them  plain. 
Let  the  reader  bear  in  mind  that  the  geography  of  this  region  to 
the  east  of  the  Jordan  is  still  but  little  known,  and  that  the 
Biblical  maps  are  in  disagreement  with  regard  to  many  of  the 
principal  points  mentioned;  so  that  it  is  not  possible  to  trace 
this  journey  of  Jacob  in  accordance  with  any  one  of  them. 
After  many  weeks  of  hard  study  of  these  chapters  (31,  32,  and 
33),  I  have  become  convinced  that  the  "Mount  Gilead"  of  Valera 
and  the  A.  V.  should  be  the  "mountain  country  of  Gilead,"  already 
mentioned,  toward  which  Jacob  naturally  and  necessarily  directed 
his  steps  in  going  from  Haran  to  Beersheba,  in  a  S.  W.  direction. 
Laban  overtook  him  encamped  on  one  of  the  eminences  of  this 
mountain  range,  called  in  vr.  25  "the  mount,"  and  Laban  himself 
encamped  "in  the  mountain  range  of  Gilead,"  near  to  him.  The 
particular  mountain  where  Jacob  encamped  and  where  he  and 
Laban  made  their  compact  of  peace,  was  named  by  them 
"Galeed"  and  "Mizpah"  (vr.  47,  48),  the  which  Mizpah  (or 
Mizpeh)  of  Gilead  was  famous  in  the  history  of  Jephthah,  Judg. 
11:  29.  To  suppose  that  "the  mountain"  was  "Mount  Gilead,"  to 
the  south  of  the  Jabbok,  would  not  only  be  to  confound  places 
distant  from  each  other,  but  would  place  Jacob  under  the  necessity 
of  crossing  the  river  Jabbok  four  times:  (1)  when  pursued  by 
Laban;  (2)  recrossing  it  again,  so  as  to  be  found  on  the  north 
of   the   Jabbok   when   Esau   came   against   him   with   400    men; 

(3)  crossing  it  again  to  the  south  of  the  river,  in  order  to  meet 
Esau  who  came  from  the  south,  from  the  country  of  Seir;   and 

(4)  passing  over  to  Succoth,  which  was  to  the  north  of  the 
Jabbok,  after  the  reconciliation  between  Esau  and  himself;  while 
on  the  contrary,  the  Bible  text  seems  to  give  us  to  understand 
that  Jacob  kept  constantly  on  his  way  to  the  S.  W.,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Beersheba  or  Hebron;  until  after  his  meeting  with  Esau 
(who  proposed  to  accompany  him  in  his  journey,  ch.  33:12); 
when  for  some  unknown  reason  Jacob  turned  short  about,  and 
instead  of  going  on  towards  Beersheba,  went  to  the  north,  or 
N.  W.,  to  Succoth,  and  from  thence  he  passed  to  Shechem,  on  the 
western  side  of  the  Jordan. 

I  shall  not  perplex  the  reader  with  the  details  of  the  case;  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  say  that  after  long  study  of  the  point  I  am 
satisfied  that  the  place  of  the  meeting  of  Jacob  and  Laban  was 
the  unknown  location  of  "Mizpah  of  Gilead,"  or  "Ramoth  Mizpah," 
some  distance  to  the  north  of  the  river  Jabbok, — Mahanaim  would 
lie  S.  W.  of  this,  and  probably  not  far  from  the  Jordan  (2  Sam. 
17:  16,  27);  that  Peniel  or  Penuel  was  on  the  river  Jabbok,  at 
the  point  where  Jacob  had  his  contest  with  the  angel,  north  of  the 


376  GENESIS 

river;  that  the  reconciliation  between  Jacob  and  Esau  took  place 
to  the  south  of  this  river;  and  from  thence  Esau  returned  towards 
the  south,  to  Seir,  while  Jacob  turned  suddenly  to  the  north, 
and  recrossing  the  river,  passed  on  to  the  city  of  Succoth,  where 
he  built  for  himself  a  house  and  remained  several  years.  I  be- 
lieve that  Laban  did  not  cross  the  Jabbok,  so  as  to  arrive  at 
Valera's  supposed  "Mount  Gilead,"  at  all,  and  that  Jacob  only 
crossed  it  twice.  After  this  long  digression  we  will  resume  the 
thread  of  the  story. 

In  spite  of  the  divine  admonition,  Laban,  as  soon  as  he  saw 
Jacob,  began  with  bitter  reproaches,  to  the  effect  that  he  must 
have  committed  some  great  wickedness,  and  for  that  cause  had 
fled  away  secretly,  carrying  away  his  daughters,  as  if  captured 
by  the  sv/ord.  What  more  could  he  say  (as  God  had  tied  his 
tongue  and  his  sword),  except  to  accuse  Jacob  of  cowardice,  in 
depriving  the  magnanimous  Laban  of  the  privilege  of  sending 
him  away  with  festivity  and  song;  and  did  not  even  allow  him 
the  opportunity  of  giving  to  his  sons  and  daughters  the  farewell 
kiss!  A  foolish  procedure,  he  said,  was  this  on  the  part  of 
Jacob;  knowing  as  well  as  Jacob  himself  did,  that  only  thus  was 
it  possible  for  him  to  escape  at  all  from  the  pitiless  hands  of 
his  father-in-law;  and  confessing  at  the  same  time  that  he 
came  with  the  power  and  will  to  do  him  harm,  had  it  not  been 
that  the  God  of  Isaac  ("the  God  of  your  father")  had  put  into 
his  mouth  a  powerful  and  effective  bridle.  But,  allowing  that  he 
could  not  longer  resist  the  desire  to  return  to  his  father  and  to 
his  country,  he  asks  him:  "Why  hast  thou  stolen  my  gods?" 
The  ignominy  of  idols,  impotent  to  defend  even  themselves 
against  robbery  and  ill  usage,  is  what  Laban  and  other  idolaters 
never  see;  and  even  in  Christian  countries,  Romanists  go  on  fol- 
lowing in  their  footsteps,  with  idols  and  images,  as  helpless  as 
the  other,  and  with  "consecrated  hosts,"  or  wafers  (impiously 
called  "His  Divine  Majesty"),  which  even  a  mouse  is  able  to 
"steal,"  and  carry  away  to  his  hole! 

It  is  also  interesting  to  notice  how,  with  the  repeated  mention 
of  "the  God  of  your  father,"  Laban  is  giving  emphasis  to  the 
fact  that  the  actual  God  of  Abraham  and  his  children  was  not 
his  god,  nor  the  ancestral  god  of  the  family, — gods  which  Abra- 
ham had  abandoned.    See  comment  on  vr.  53. 


CHAPTER  31:  31—35  377 

31:  31 — 35.     JACOB  gives   an   account  of   himself   and   of   his 

CONDUCT.        LABAN     SETS     ABOUT     TO     OVERHAUL     THE     EFFECTS     OF 
JACOB,    SEEKING    HIS    LOST    GODS.        (1739    B.    C.) 

31  And  Jacob  answerod  and  said  to  Laban,  Because  I  was  afraid: 
for  I  said,  Lest  tliou  shonldest  take  thy  daughters  from  me  by  force. 

32  With  who!iisop\or  rhon  lindest  tliy  gods,  he  shall  not  live:  be- 
fore our  brethren  discern  thou  what  is  thine  with  me,  and  take  it  to 
thee.     For  Jacob  knew  not  that  Rachel  had  stolen  them. 

33  And  Laban  went  into  Jacob's  tent,  and  into  Leah's  tent,  and 
into  the  tent  of  the  two  maid-servants ;  but  he  found  them  not.  And 
he  wont  out  of  Leah's  tent,  and  entered  into  Rachel's  tent. 

.31  Now  Rachel  had  taken  the  teraphim,  and  put  them  in  the 
camel's  saddle,  and  sat  upon  them.  And  Laban  felt  about  all  the 
tent,  but  found  them  not. 

35  And  she  said  to  her  father.  Let  not  my  lord  be  angry  that  I 
cannot  rise  up  before  thee ;  for  the  manner  of  women  is  upon  me. 
And  he  searched,  but  found  not  the  teraphim. 

Jacob  justified  his  secret  flight  with  the  frank  declaration,  of 
what  was  probably  the  truth,  that  if  he  had  not  got  away  in 
such  a  manner,  Laban  would  have  taken  from  him  his  daughters 
by  force;  to  which  he  later  adds,  that  he  would  have  taken 
away  everything  else  that  he  had  gained  in  his  twenty  years 
of  arduous  toil.  Vr.  42.  In  regard  to  his  gods  (without  even 
suspecting  that  his  beloved  Rachel  had  them  hidden  underneath 
her),  Jacob  said  that  with  whomsoever  Laban  might  find  them, 
he  should  die.  It  does  not  appear  that  this  was  in  those  days  the 
penalty  for  stealing  gods,  or  whether  Jacob,  indignant  at  such 
baseness  and  superstition,  vented  his  wrath  in  strong  words. 
Jacob  told  him  to  search  all  his  effects  and  take  all  that  he 
found  of  his  own.  "Vr.  37.  Laban  began  the  search,  examining 
and  feeling  (vr.  34)  everything.  Rachel  could  hardly  have 
escaped  in  such  a  rigorous  scrutiny  as  that  which  Laban  was 
making,  beginning  with  the  tent  of  Jacob,  and  passing  thence 
to  those  of  Leah  and  the  two  maid-servants,  and  coming  at  last 
to  her  own.  But  she  was  quick-witted,  and  in  a  moment  she 
placed  the  idols  under  the  furniture  of  her  camel,  and  seated 
herself  upon  it,  pretending  to  be  with  her  periodical  sickness 
(which  by  euphemism  is  called  in  the  Bible  "the  manner  of 
women")  and  unable  to  rise;  with  which  falsehood  she  excused 
herself  from  rising  up  in  the  presence  of  her  "lord,"  as  she 
called  him,  when  he  entered.  We  see  here  in  embryo  that  pro- 
vision of  the  Mosaic  law,  that  in  such  a  condition  a  woman 
was  unclean,  and  ought  to  touch  nobody,  and  nobody  to  touch 
her,  nor  anything  she  was  seated  upon,  nor  the  things  that  she 
had  touched.  Lev.  15:  19 — 23.  In  this  way  Rachel  gained  her 
point,  and  her  father  at  once  withdrew,  without  examining, 
or  -feeling,  the  pile  of  things  on  which  she  was  seated,  where 
she  had  hidden  his  family  gods. 


378  GENESIS 

31:  36 — 42.  the  energetic  protest  which  jacob  makes  of  his 
honorable  deportment,  and  against  the  ill  treatment  he  had 
received  always  from  laban.     (1739  b.  c.) 

36  And   Jacob   was   wroth,    and    chode   with    Laban :    and    Jacob 

answered  and  said  to  Laban,  ^Yhat  is  my  trespass  V  what  is  my  sin, 
that  thou  hast  hotly  pursued  after  me? 

37  Whereas  thou  hast  felt  about  all  my  stuff,  what  hast  thou 
found  of  all  thy  household  stuff?  Set  it  here  before  my  brethren  and 
thy  brethren,  that  they  may  judge  betwixt  us  two. 

38  These  twenty  years  have  I  been  with  thee ;  thy  ewes  and  thy 
she-goats  have  not  cast  their  young,  and  the  rams  of  thy  flocks  have  I 
not  eaten. 

39  That  which  was  torn  of  beasts  I  brought  not  unto  thee ;  I  bare 
the  loss  of  it ;  of  my  hand  didst  thou  require  it,  whether  stolen  by 
day  or  stolen  by  night. 

40  Thus  I  was ;  in  the  day  the  drought  consumed  me,  and  the  frost 
by  night ;  and  my  sleep  tied  from  mine  eyes. 

41  These  twenty  years  have  I  been  in  thy  house ;  I  served  thee 
fourteen  years  for  thy  two  daughters,  and  six  years  for  thy  flock*  : 
and  thou  hast  chaTiged  my  wages  ten  times. 

42  Except  the  God  of  my  father,  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the 
Fear  of  Isaac,  had  been  with  me,  surely  now  hadst  thou  sent,  me 
away  empty.  God  hath  seen  mine  affliction  and  the  labor  of  my  hands, 
and  rebuked  thee  yesternight. 

[*A.  v.,  M.  8.  v.,  cattle.] 

When  Laban  withdrew  mortified  and  empty-handed  from 
Rachel's  tent,  after  he  had  searched  in  vain  for  his  gods,  or  any- 
thing else  of  his  that  was  among  Jacob's  effects,  the  latter,  moved 
with  vehement  indignation,  loosed  his  tongue  to  berate  him  for 
the  manner  in  which  he  had  always  treated  him.  Laban  had 
insinuated  that  he  fled  away  secretly,  after  the  manner  of  some 
fugitive  evil-doer;  and  Jacob,  in  his  turn,  asks  him  why  he  had 
so  hotly  pursued  him,  as  if  he  was  a  thief,  since  he  was  unable 
to  find  among  his  effects  anything  that  was  his.  After  setting 
forth  his  untiring  zeal  in  the  service  of  Laban,  his  perfect  in- 
tegrity, and  the  rigor  with  which  Laban  had  ruled  him,  as  a  piti- 
less master,  he  tells  him  that  in  the  twenty  years  he  had  served 
him,  his  sheep  and  his  goats  had  not  lost  their  young,  and 
that  he  had  never  eaten  the  rams  of  his  flocks, — it  being  the 
usage  of  herdsmen  to  eat  the  males  and  not  the  females.  Thus 
with  ceaseless  toil  he  had  served  him  day  and  night,  bearing 
himself  (by  the  requirement  of  Laban)  the  loss  of  what  was 
carried  away  by  wild  beasts;  and  withal,  if  it  had  not  been,  he 
said,  for  "the  God  of  my  father,  the  God  of  Abraham  and  the 
Fear  of  Isaac,  who  reproved  thee  last  night,"  Laban  would  have 
dispatched  him  after  twenty  years  of  such  service,  as  poor  as  he 
came.  Jacob  resents,  in  vr.  29,  the  imputation  which  Laban  had 
Insinuated  with  regard  to  the  God  of  his  father,  laying  emphasis 
on  the  fact  that  "the  God  of  his  father"  was  no  other  than  "the 


CHAPTER  31 :  43—55  379 

God  of  Abraham  and  the  Fear  of  Isaac;"  without  entering  on  the 
question  of  the  abandonment  of  the  ancestral  gods  of  Terah,  and 
Nahor,  and  Bethuel,  and  Laban.     See  comments  on  vr.  53. 

31:  43 — 55.     laban  and  jacob  enter  into  a  covenant  of  peace. 
(1739  B.  c.) 

43  And  Laban  answered  and  said  unto  Jacob,  The  daughters  are 
my  daughters,  and  the  children  are  my  children,  and  the  flocks  are 
my  flocks,  and  all  that  thou  seest  is  mine  :  and  what  can  I  do  this 
day  unto  these  my  daughters,  or  unto  their  children  whom  they  have 
borne? 

44  And  now  come,  let  us  make  a  covenant,  I  and  thou ;  and  let  it 
be  for  a  witness  between  me  and  thee. 

45  And  Jacob  took  a  stone,  and  sot  it  up  for  a  pillar. 

46  And  Jacob  said  unto  his  brethren.  Gather  stones ;  and  they  took 
stones,  and  made  a  heap  :  and  they  did  eat  there  by  the  heap. 

47  And  Laban  called  it  Jegar-saha-dutha  :*  but  Jacob  called  it 
Galeed.t 

48  And  Laban  said.  This  heap  is  witness  between  me  and  thee 
this  day.    Therefore  was  the  name  of  it  called  Galeed : 

49  and  Mizpah.t  for  he  said,  Jehovah  watch  between  me  and  thee, 
when  we  are  absent  one  from  another. 

50  If  thou  shalt  afflict  my  daughters,  and  if  thou  shalt  take  wives 
besides  my  daughters,  no  man  is  with  us ;  see,  God  is  witness  betwixt 
me  and  thee. 

51  And  Laban  said  to  Jacob,  Behold  this  heap,  and  behold  the  pil- 
lar, which  I  have  set  betwixt  me  and  thee. 

.52  This  heap  be  witness,  and  the  pillar  be  witness,  that  I  will 
not  pass  over  this  heap  to  thee,  and  that  thou  shalt  not  pass  over 
this  heap  and  this  pillar  unto  me,  for  harm. 

5.S  The  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Nahor,  the  God§  of  their 
father,  judge  betwixt  us.  And  Jacob  sware  by  the  Fear  of  his  father 
Isaac. 

54  And  Jacob  offered  a  sacrifice  in  the  mountain,  and  called  his 
brethren  to  eat  bread :  and  they  did  eat  bread  :  and  tarried  all  night 
in  the  mountain. 

55  And  early  in  the  morning  Laban  rose  up,  and  kissed  his  sons 
and  his  daughters,  and  blessed  them :  and  Laban  departed,  and  re- 
turned unto  his  place. 

"That  is.  The  heap  of  witness,  in  Aramaic. 
^That  is.  The  heap  of  v/itness,  in  Hebrew. 
XThat  is.  The  watch-tower.  §0r,  gods. 

To  these  protests,  as  deeply  felt  as  they  were  well  founded, 
Laban  only  replied  with  bravado  and  idle  boasting;  and  then 
proposed  that  the  two  should  make  a  covenant  of  peace,  and 
mutually  swear  that  neither  of  them  would  pass  beyond  that 
point  with  hostile  intent.  In  fact  they  made  there  a  covenant 
which  was  to  serve  as  a  testimony  between  the  two.  Jacob  again 
set  up  a  stone  for  a  pillar  (see  ch.  28:  18),  and  then,  gathering 
stones,  all  of  them,  they  made  a  heap  or  mound  of  stones,  and 
ate  on  that  mound;  which  rite  of  eating  together,  served  as 
security  for  peace  and  harmony,  according  to  the  usage  still  pre- 
vailing among  the  Orientals.  The  marked  difference  between 
the  names  which  Jacob  and  Laban  gave  to  that  heap  of  stones, 


380  GENESIS 

is  evidence  of  the  difference  there  was  between  the  language  of 
Haran,  which  was  Aramaic  or  Syrian,  and  that  of  Canaan,  which 
Jacob  and  his  descendants  spoke,  and  is  one  of  the  incidental 
proofs  alleged  to  prove  that  Hebrew  was  the  language  of  Canaan, 
which  Abraham  adopted  when  he  emigrated  from  his  own  native 
country  to  the  land  of  promise.    See  Comments  on  ch.  11:  1. 

The  beautiful  Mizpah  benediction  of  the  Society  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  which  is  for  its  members  the  expression  and  pledge 
of  mutual  fidelity,  had  originally  in  the  mouth  of  Laban  a 
significance  and  purpose  which  was  precisely  the  opposite,  as  the 
language  of  jealous  suspicion  and  distrust.  Two  things  Laban 
demanded,  careless  as  he  had  till  then  been  of  the  welfare  of  his 
daughters:  (1)  That  Jacob  should  not  oppress  them,  when  far 
from  the  house  of  their  father;  and  it  may  be  that  the  past 
differences  and  dissensions  between  the  two  sisters  gave  occasion 
for  this  demand.  See  ch.  30:  1,  15;  and  (2)  that  he  should  not 
take  any  more  wives  in  addition  to  those  he  already  had. 
Laban  counted  his  two  daughters  as  the  wives  of  Jacob  (and  so 
does  Moses,  ch.  32:  22),  and  the  two  servants  as  his  concubines. 
Jacob  was  inclined  to  count  Rachel  as  his  only  legitimate  wife. 
Ch.  44:  27.  To  bind  Jacob  to  the  performance  of  these  stipula- 
tions, Laban  set  Jehovah  as  a  sentinel  in  a  watch-tower  (=3 
Mizpah)  to  watch  over  their  fulfilment.  And  in  testimony  that 
neither  of  the  two  would  pass  that  pile  of  stones  with  hostile  in- 
tent, he  put  for  witness  the  pile  and  the  pillar  which  they  had 
reared  in  that  place.  They  pledged  their  solemn  oath  to  this 
effect,  Laban  makes  his  appeal  to  the  ancient  gods  of  the 
family,  "the  gods  of  Abraham  and  the  gods  of  Nahor,  gods  that 
were  of  their  father"  before  them.  Jacob  who  knew  that  Abra- 
ham had  been  at  one  time  a  worshiper  of  Laban's  gods,  whom 
he  had  renounced  to  love  and  serve  Jehovah  alone,  did  not  wish  to 
swear  by  the  "God  of  Abraham,"  an  expression  which  he  and 
Laban  used  in  different  senses;  and  for  this  reason  "he  swore  by 
the  Fear  of  his  father  Isaac" — that  new  God  of  Abraham  whom 
alone  Isaac  had  feared.  In  vr.  53  the  verb  and  noun  (God)  are 
both  in  the  plural,  manifesting  that  "the  gods  of  Abraham,"  etc. 
and  not  "the  God  of  Abraham,"  is  the  correct  translation.*  See 
also  comments  on  ch.  12:  1;  31:  19,  30  and  42. 

When  these  ceremonies  were  finished,  or,  more  probably,  as 
•The  Revised  Version,  both  English  and  American,  is,  I  think,  partial 
and  unfair, — it  is  positively  misleading,  in  this  place,  in  appending  the 
alternative  rendering  "or,  gods,"  to  "the  God  of  their  father" — Terah, 
but  not  to  "the  God  of  Abraham  and  the  God  of  Nahor."  In  the  Hebrew 
text,  the  plural  verb  is  attached  immediately  to  "the  gods  of  Abraham  and 
tbe  gods  of  Nahor,"  rather  than  to  "the  gods  of  their  father." — Tr. 


CHAPTER  32:  1,  2  381 

part  of  them,  Jacob  offered  sacrifices  in  the  mount,  and  invited 
his  brethren  or  friends  (as  they  all  were  at  that  moment),  and 
celebrated  a  great  feast;  which  was  always  a  part  of  the  sacri- 
fices of  peace-offerings  (Lev.  7:  11 — 18);  and  they  all  passed  the 
night  in  the  mount;  and  in  the  morning  Laban,  with  kisses  and 
benedictions  set  out  on  his  journey  and  returned  to  his  place. 
Happy  end  to  which  God  brought  the  armed  expedition  of  Laban, 
which  might  well  have  cost  Jacob  his  life!  "When  a  man's  ways 
please  the  Lord,  he  maketh  even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with 
him."  Prov.  16:  7.  The  ways  of  Jacob  had  begun  to  please  the 
Lord. 

CHAPTER  XXXIL 

VES.   1,   2.      JACOB   IN   MAHANAIM.       (1739   B.   C.) 

1  And  Jacob   wpnt   on  his  way,   and   thp  angels  of   God  met  him. 

2  And  Jacob  said  when  he  saw  them.  This  is  God's  host :  and  he 
called  the  name  of  that  place  Mahanaim. 

There  is  much  uncertainty  in  our  Bible  maps  with  regard  to 
the  localities  mentioned  in  chapters  31  and  32.  The  most  of 
them  put  Mount  Gilead  to  the  south  of  the  river  Jabbok;  one  that 
I  have  before  me  places  it  to  the  north.  Most  of  them  place 
Mahanaim  to  the  north  of  the  Jabbok,  20  miles  or  more  from  the 
Jordan:  it  is  probable  that  it  was  near  the  valley  of  the  Jordan, 
a  few  miles  from  the  river;  for  it  would  seem  that  David  in  hi3 
precipitate  flight  from  Absalom  arrived  there  on  the  second  day 
after  leaving  Jerusalem;  and  the  reason  given  why  Ahimaaz  out- 
ran the  Cushite,  in  carrying  to  David  the  news  of  the  battle, 
was  that  he  "ran  by  the  way  of  the  plain  (of  Jordan)"  2  Sam. 
17:  27—29;  18:  23.  "The  wood  of  Ephraim,"  to  the  east  of  the  Jor- 
dan, where  that  battle  was  fought,  took  name  probably  from  the 
slaughter  which  Jephthah  there  made  of  42,000  Ephraimites,  at 
the  fords  of  the  Jordan,  in  the  days  of  the  Judges.  Judg.  12:  5, 
6.  Others  still  locate  Mahanaim  on  the  south  of  the  river 
Jabbok,  to  the  north  of  "Mount  Gilead."  Some  maps  locate  Ramoth 
Gilead  (which  is  probably  the  same  as  the  "Mizpah"  of  ch. 
31:  49,  or  "Mizpeh  of  Gilead,"  famous  in  the  history  of  Jephthah 
(Judg.  11:  29,  34),  to  the  north  of  the  Jabbok;  and  others, 
erroneously  I  think,  to  the  south.  Until  therefore  the  geography 
of  the  region  "beyond  Jordan"  is  better  understood,  it  will  be 
allowed  me  to  maintain  the  opinion  already  expressed,  that  the 
"Mount  Gilead"  of  the  maps  was  not  the  place  of  the  meeting  of 
Laban  and  Jacob,  and  that  Jacob  did  not  march  to  the  south, 
then  to  the  north,  after  that  to  the  south,  and  at  last  toward  the 


382  GENESIS 

north,  fording  the  dangerous  torrent  of  Jabbok  four  times  with- 
out cause;  but  that  he  "went  on  his  way"  always  toward  the 
south,  as  the  text  states,  until  he  changed  his  route,  after  his 
meeting  with  Esau,  and,  abandoning  the  road  to  Beersheba, 
turned  to  the  north  and  went  to  Succoth. 

After  the  departure  of  Laban,  Jacob  continued  his  journey, 
going  south.  In  Mahanaim  the  angels  of  God  came  out  to  meet 
him;  as  if  to  congratulate  him,  and  bid  him  welcome,  after  the 
spiritual  victory  he  had  gained  over  Laban.  This  company  of 
angels  would  naturally  remind  him  of  "the  stairway,"  in  his 
vision  at  Bethel,  by  which  companies  of  angels  ascended  and 
descended.  Ch.  28:  12.  We  would  desire  to  know  more  about 
this  visit  of  angels,  which  has  for  its  only  parallel  in  the  Bible 
that  of  the  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  who  announced  "glory 
to  God  in  the  highest  and  on  earth  peace,"  on  the  night  of  the 
Holy  Birth  (Luke  2:  13,  14);  but  all  details  are  lacking.  Whether 
it  was  by  day  or  by  night,  Jacob  received  much  consolation  and 
cheer  from  this  visit;  and  well  did  he  need  it  for  the  trial,  more 
terrible  still,  that  awaited  him.  The  company  must  have  been 
numerous,  judging  by  the  name  Jacob  gave  to  the  place 
"Mahanaim"  (=  two  encampments,  or  armies) ;  so  called,  either 
on  account  of  two  companies  that  the  angels  formed,  or  because 
there  were  two  armies  or  encampments,  of  which  one  was  that 
of  Jacob. 

32:  3 — 8.    JACOB  had  sent  messengers  to  his  brother  esau,  and 

THEY    RETURN    IN    HASTE    WITH    TIDINGS    THAT    ESAU    WAS    COMING 
AGAINST    HIM    WITH    FOUR    HUNDRED    MEN.       (1739    B.    C.) 

3  And  Jacob  sent  messengers  before  him  to  Esau  his  brother  unto 
the  land  of  Scir,  the  field  of  Edom. 

4  And  he  commanded  them,  saying,  Thus  shall  ye  say  unto  my 
lord  Esau :  Thus  saith  thy  servant  Jacob,  I  have  sojourned  with  Laban, 
and  stayed  until  now : 

5  and  I  have  oxen,  and  asses,  and  flocks,  and  men-servants,  and 
maid-servants  :  and  I  have  sent  to  tell  my  lord,  that  I  may  find  favor 
in  thy  sight. 

6  And  the  messengers  returned  to  Jacob,  saying,  We  came  to  thy 
brother  Esau,  and  moreover  he  cometh  to  meet  thee,  and  four  hun- 
dred men  with  him, 

7  Then  Jacob  was  greatly  afraid  and  was  distressed :  and  he 
divided  the  people  that  were  with  him,  and  the  flocks,  and  the  herds, 
and  the  camels,  into  two  companies ; 

8  and  he  said.  If  Esau  come  to  the  one  company,  and  smite  it, 
then  the  company  which  is  left  shall  escape. 

As  the  journey  from  Mahanaim  to  the  country  of  Seir  was  a 
journey  of  several  days  duration,  Jacob  would  wait  some  time 
there  for  the  return  of  his  messengers,  in  order  to  have  certain 
intelligence  about  his  brother,  and  know  his  feelings  toward  him; 


CHAPTER  32:  9—12  383 

and  yet  as  Esau  met  him  near  Penuel,  or  Peniel,  after  he  forded 
the  river  Jabbok,  going  south,  it  is  clear  that  Jacob  had  removed 
from  Mahanaim  to  the  vicinity  of  the  river  Jabbok,  which  there 
crosses  the  high  table-land  of  Gilead  through  a  canyon,  from  1500 
to  2000  feet  deep,  between  precipitous  banks,  or  mountain  slopes,  of 
that  elevation;  and  it  is  probable  that  there,  near  to  the  Jabbok,  he 
waited  the  outcome  of  the  event.  Penuel,  it  seems,  was  to  the 
north  of  the  river  Jabbok,  and  the  place  of  his  meeting  with 
Esau  to  the  south.  It  is  evident  also  that  Jacob  must  have 
made  a  considerable  delay  in  those  parts,  in  order  that  notice  of 
his  unexpected  and  precipitous  flight  from  Padan-aram  should 
come  to  the  ears  of  Esau  (to  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea)  so  op- 
portunely that  he  had  time  to  arm  400  men,  and  meet  with 
the  messengers  of  Jacob  on  their  journey  south. 

Jacob  then  had  sent  to  inform  Esau  of  his  coming,  to  give  an 
account  of  himself,  and  to  offer  his  humble  submission,  as  his 
servant.  Ch.  32:  4,  18,  20;  33:  5,  8.  With  good  reason  he  feared 
the  vengeance  of  the  brother  whom  he  had  wronged  so  cruelly; 
notwithstanding  which,  we  do  not  know  how  to  excuse  the  abject 
and  servile  spirit  which  he  manifested,  after  the  great  promises 
and  signal  mercies  which  God  had  granted  him.  But  this  was 
Jacob,  naturally  timid  and  "of  a  fearful  heart,"  who  was  by 
nature  astute,  cunning  and  crafty,  rather  than  valiant.  The 
mention  he  makes  of  his  riches  and  of  his  numerous  possessions, 
was  not  done  in  the  spirit  of  boasting,  but  in  order  to  evoke  the 
consideration  and  respect  of  Esau,  who  naturally  held  him  in 
contempt,  as  well  as  hatred.  But  he  obtained  nothing;  perhaps 
his  messengers  did  not  even  have  time  to  perform  their  mission; 
because  they  returned  precipitately,  reporting  that  they  had  come 
upon  Esau  in  the  way,  and  that  he  was  coming  against  him  with 
400  men. 

This  report  filled  Jacob  with  consternation.  He  had  evidently 
hoped  that  after  his  twenty  years  of  absence,  Esau  would  have 
forgotten,  or  pardoned,  the  double  injury  he  had  done  him;  but 
he  now  saw  his  mistake.  He  therefore,  as  his  first  act,  in  great 
anguish  of  spirit,  divided  the  people  and  property  which  he  had 
brought,  into  two  parts,  so  that  if  Esau  should  come  and  smite 
the  one,  the  other  would  have  opportunity  to  escape. 

32:  9 — 12.    HIS  principal  recoubse,  prayer.     (1739  b.  c.) 

9  And  Jacob  said,  O  God  of  my  father  Abraham,  and  God  of  my 
father  Isaac,  O  Jehovah,  who  saidst  unto  me,  Return  unto  thy  coun- 
try, and  to  thy  kindred,  and  I  will  do  tliee  good  : 

10  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  loving  kindnesses,  and  of 
all  the  truth,  which  thou  bast  showed  unto  thy  servant ;  for  with  my 


384  GENESIS 

staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan ;  and  now   I  am  become  two  com- 
panies. 

11  Deliver  me,  I  pray  thee,  from  the  hand  of  my  brother,  from  the 
hand  of  Esau  :  for  I  fear  him,  lest  he  come  and  smite  me,  the  mother 
with  the  children. 

12  And  thou  saidst,  I  will  surely  do  thee  good,  and  make  thy  seed 
as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  which  cannot  be  numbered  for  multitude. 

The  case  demanded  haste;  he  took,  therefore,  the  steps  already 
related,  and  then  betook  himself  to  prayer;  which  has  always 
been  the  principal  recourse  of  the  people  of  God  in  times  of  strait 
and  great  danger;   like  Job  who  thus  expresses  himself: 

"My  friends  scorn  me; 

but  mine  eye  poureth  out  tears  unto  God."    Job  16:  20. 

and  David: 

"For  my  love  they  are  my  adversaries; 

but  I  give  myself  unto  prayer."  Ps.  109:  4. 
And  so  Jacob,  after  doing  what  at  the  moment  prudence  coun- 
seled, goes  hastily  to  God,  in  order  to  place  himself  beneath  his 
promised  protection;  and  his  prayer  is  extremely  beautiful,  sim- 
ple and  soul  moving.  It  is  so  clear,  that  to  comment  upon  it 
would  be  to  detract  something  from  its  beauty  and  force.  As  this, 
however,  is  the  first  prayer  that  we  find  related  in  the  Bible 
(for  that  of  Abraham,  in  ch.  18:  23-33  is  rather  a  conversa- 
tional intercession,  than  a  prayer  to  the  unseen  God),  it  will  not 
be  amiss  to  fix  attention  on  its  several  parts:  (1)  The  invocation, 
addressed  to  the  God  of  the  covenanted  promises:  "God  of  my 
father  Abraham,  and  God  of  my  father  Isaac";  (2)  The  same 
who  had  commanded  him  to  set  out  on  this  journey,  under  his 
safe-conduct  and  protection;  (3)  The  humble  and  feeling  con- 
fession of  his  unworthiness,  and  of  the  fidelity  of  God  toward 
him,  in  changing  the  solitary  fugitive  into  a  rich  chieftain,  at 
the  head  of  two  encampments,  as  is  said  in  vrs.  7  and  8;  which 
no  doubt  presented  an  imposing  aspect,  with  its  tents  and  many 
thousands  of  cattle;  (4)  The  petition  that  he  would  deliver  him 
from  the  danger  which  was  right  upon  him;  (5)  He  shelters 
himself  yet  again  under  the  sure  promises  of  God:  "Thou,  thy- 
self didst  say:  Certainly  I  will  be  with  thee,"  etc. 

32:  13 — 21.     THE  WISE  steps  which  jacob  takes,  to  soften  the 

HARD    AND    FIERCE    HEART   OF   ESAU.       (1739    B.    C.) 

13  And  he  lodged  there  that  night,  and  took  of  that  which  he 
had  with  him  a  present  for  Esau  his  brother : 

14  two  hundred  she-goats  and  twenty  he-goats,  two  hundred  ewes 
and  twenty  rams, 

1.5  thirty  milk  camels  and  their  colts,  forty  cows  and  ten  bulls, 
twenty  she-asses  and  ten  foals. 


CHAPTER  32:  13— 21  385 

16  And  he  delivered  them  into  the  hand  of  his  servants,  every 
drove  by  itself,  and  said  unto  his  servants.  Pass  over  before  me,  and 
put  a  space  betwixt  drove  and  drove. 

17  And  he  commanded  the  foremost,  saying.  When  Esau  my 
brother  meeteth  thee,  and  asketh  thoe,  saying,  Whose  art  thou?  and 
whither  goest  thou?  and  whose  are  these  before  thee? 

18  then  thou  shalt  say.  They  are  thy  servant  Jacob's ;  it  is  a 
present  sent  unto  my  lord  Esau  :   and,  behold,  he  also  is  behind  us. 

19  And  he  commanded  also  the  second,  and  the  third,  and  all  that 
followed  the  droves,  saying,  On  this  manner  shall  ye  speak  unto 
Esau,  when  ye  find  him  : 

20  and  ye  shall  say,  Moreover,  behold,  thy  servant  Jacob  is  be- 
hind us.  For  he  said,  I  will  appease  him  with  the  present  that  goeth 
before  me,  and  afterward  I  will  see  his  face ;  peradventure  he  will 
accept   me. 

21  So  the  present  passed  over  before  him :  and  he  himself  lodged 
that  night  in  the  company. 

Jacob  had  prayed  well,  apparently  in  the  very  spot  where  he 
stood  (the  Jews  usually  prayed  standing  Mark  11:  25;  Luke  18: 
11,  13);  but  after  he  had  done  this,  he  set  himself  to  work  in 
accordance  with  his  prayer,  and  as  if  himself  to  give  effect  to  it. 
It  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  he  would  have  obtained  his  peti- 
tion, or  would  have  obtained  so  abundant  an  answer,  if  he  had 
acted  in  a  different  manner,  or  if  he  had  left  the  matter  in  the 
hands  of  God,  without  doing  any  more  himself.  Thus  it  often  hap- 
pens that  our  prayers  yield  little  or  no  fruit,  because  we  do  not  act 
in  accordance  with  what  we  ask.  Without  waiting  till  night,  Jacob 
set  some  580  head  of  cattle,  of  different  kinds,  in  jQve  different 
droves,  and  delivered  them  into  the  hands  of  servants  in  whom 
he  had  entire  confidence,  commanding  them  to  leave  a  good 
space  between  drove  and  drove,  so  that  each  drove  that  Esau  met 
would  be  a  fresh  surprise;  and  he  put  into  the  mouths  of  the 
servants  in  charge  the  same  humble  message;  so  that  this  would 
be  five  times  repeated  in  the  ears  of  Esau,  before  he  would  meet 
with  Jacob.  All  this,  which  formed,  as  the  Hebrew  reads,  a  small 
"army"  in  itself  (see  ch.  33:  8),  he  sent  away  at  once;  in  which 
promptness  he  acted  like  a  sensible  man;  "I  will  appease  his 
wrath  (he  said)  with  the  present  that  goeth  before  me  and  after 
that  I  will  see  his  face;  peradventure  he  will  accept  me."  Vr. 
20.    The  wise  king  has  said: 

"A  man's  gift  maketh  room  for  him, 

and  bringeth  him  before  great  men."     Prov.  18:  16. 

Thus  Jacob  prayed,  as  if  everything  depended  on  the  mere 
and  sovereign  will  of  God;  and  thus  he  worked,  as  if  every- 
thing depended  on  the  wise  providences  that  he  himself  should 
take;  and  in  both  he  acted  well. 


38G  GENESIS 

32:  22 — 32.     the  victorious  contest  of  jacob  with  the  angel. 
(1739  B.  c.) 

22  And  he  rose  up  that  night,  and  took  his  two  wives,  and  his 
two  handmaids,  and  his  eleven  children,*  and  passed  over  the  ford  of 
the  Jahbok. 

23  And  he  took  them,  and  sent  them  over  the  stream,  and  sent 
over  that  which  he  had. 

24  And  Jacob  was  left  alone ;  and  there  wrestled  a  man  with  him 
until  the  breaking  of  the  day. 

25  And  when  he  saw  that  he  prevailed  not  against  him,  he  touched 
the  hollow  of  his  thigh  ;  and  the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh  was  strainedf 
as  he  wrestled  with  him. 

26  And  he  said,  Let  me  go,  for  the  day  breaketh.  And  he  said, 
I  will  not  let  thee  go,  except  thou  bless  me. 

27  And  he  said  unto  him,  What  is  thy  name?  And  he  said, 
Jacob, 

28  And  he  said.  Thy  name  shall  be  called  no  more  Jacob,  but  Is- 
raelt  :  for  thou  hast  striven  with  God  and  with  men,  and  hast  pre- 
vailed. 

29  And  Jacob  asked  him,  and  said,  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  thy 
name.  And  he  said,  Wherefore  is  it  that  thou  dost  ask  after  my 
name?     And  he  blessed  him  there, 

.30  And  Jacob  called  the  name  of  the  place  Peniel||  :  for,  said  he, 
I  have  seen  God  face  to  face,  and  my  life  is  preserved. 

31  And  the  sun  rose  upon  him  as  he  passed  over  Penuel,  and  he 
limped  upon  his  thigh. 

32  Therefore  the  children  of  Israel  eat  not  the  sinew  of  the  hip 
which  is  upon  the  hollow  of  the  thigh,  unto  this  day :  because  he 
touched  the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh   in  the  sinew  of  the  hip. 

[*A.  V.    sons.]  [fJ..  V.  and  M.  8.  V.,  out  of  joint.] 

%That  is.  He  who  striveth  with  God.  \\That  is.  The  face  of  God. 

Verse  3  tells  us  that  "Jacob  sent  (that  is,  he  had  sent)  mes- 
sengers before  him  to  Esau  his  brother,  to  the  land  of  Seir,  the 
country  of  Edom."  At  that  time  Jacob  was  probably  in  Ma- 
hanaim,  traveling  towards  the  south,  while  Esau  was  coming 
to  meet  him  from  the  land  of  Seir,  marching  towards  the  north. 
The  river  or  torrent  of  Jabbok  lay  between  them,  and  Esau 
was  now  very  near.  Jacob  thought  it  would  be  the  wiser  part 
to  pass  onward  and  meet  him  in  the  way,  rather  than  to  be- 
take himself  to  flight,  or  wait  timidly  for  him  on  the  north 
of  the  river.  Having  therefore  sent  before  him,  on  the  pre- 
vious evening,  the  magnificent  present  of  nearly  six  hundred 
head  of  cattle,  and  having  granted  to  his  people  some  repose, 
in  which  he  took  no  part,  he  arose  in  the  night,  and  caused 
his  family,  and  his  people,  and  all  his  possessions  to  pass 
over  the  ford;  and  Jacob  remained  alone.  It  is  a  very  com- 
mon opinion  that  Jacob  remained  behind  in  order  to  seek 
God  in  prayer,  and  that  while  he  was  praying  he  had  his  con- 
test with  the  Angel.  But  this  is  in  itself  improbable,  and 
the  text  says  nothing  about  it.  Verse  21  says,  that  having 
dispatched  his  presents  for  Esau,  he  himself  passed  the  night 


CHAPTER  32:  22—32  387 

in  the  encampment.  It  would  be  midnight  when,  having  con- 
ceded some  rest  to  his  people,  he  broke  up  camp  and  passed 
the  river  Jabbok.  This  would  consume  the  greater  part  of 
the  night  that  remained.  He  could  pray  better,  and  with  all 
the  privacy  that  he  needed,  on  the  same  side  of  the  river  with 
his  people;  so  that  he  was  not  seeking  this  retirement,  with 
the  river  between  them,  separated  from  his  family  and  his 
people.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  probable  that  Jacob  remained 
behind  until  he  was  left  alone,  looking  after  the  security  of 
all,  and  that  he  was  hastening  to  rejoin  his  family  when  that 
unknown  person  attacked  him  in  the  dark;  and  that  this  un- 
looked  for  delay,  with  the  fright  it  caused  him,  had  the  especial 
aggravation,  that  it  detained  him  from  his  family  when  it 
was  most  important  that  he  should  be  with  them.  The  contest 
was  hand  to  hand  and  long,  until  the  "dawning  of  the  day." 
Undoubtedly  he  who  at  the  beginning  most  desired  to  loose 
himself  from  the  embrace  of  the  other,  was  Jacob;  but  com- 
prehending during  his  struggle  that  this  had  something  to  do 
with  his  own  security  and  that  of  his  family,  Jacob  put  forth 
all  his  powers,  striving  manfully.  Little  by  little  it  dawned 
upon  him  that  he  whom  he  had  within  his  embrace  was  more 
than  human;  especially  when  the  Angel,  seeing  that  he  could 
not  prevail  against  him  (accommodating  the  phrase  to  the 
human  weakness  that  fought  with  divinely  imparted  strength), 
touched  the  hollow  of  his  thigh;  which  in  the  act  was  put 
out  of  joint;  but  Jacob  continued  tenaciously  the  struggle.  The 
Angel  was  now  the  party  who  wished  to  disengage  himself  from 
the  firm  hold  of  Jacob  (restraining  in  pity  and  compassion 
his  strength,  so  as  to  equal  his  powers  with  those  of  his  an- 
tagonist), and  he  said:  "Let  me  go,  for  the  day  breaketh!" 
But  Jacob  saw  his  opportunity,  and  returned  as  his  only  re- 
ply: "I  will  not  let  thee  go  until  thou  bless  me!"  and  con- 
tinued resolutely  the  struggle.  The  Angel  then  asked  him  what 
was  his  name;  and  on  replying:  "Jacob,"  he  took  away  the 
opprobrious  name  of  "Jacob"  (=  Supplanter),  and  gave  him 
the  honorable  name  of  "Israel"  (="Striver  with  God,"  "War- 
rior or  soldier  of  God,"  or  "Prince  who  fights  with  God,"  etc., 
according  to  the  individual  pleasure  and  preference  of  different 
commentators);  "for  (said  he)  thou  hast  striven  with  God  and 
with  men  and  hast  prevailed."  Jacob  undoubtedly  understood 
that  "the  God"  with  whom  he  had  striven  was  no  other  than 
the  Angel  himself  with  whom  he  was  talking,  and  the  "men" 
were  doubtless  Esau  and  his  400  men;  but  including  Laban  also. 
"Israel"  in  Hebrew  seems  to  be  a  name  derived  from  "Sarah," 


388  GENESIS 

the  "princess" ;  although  the  Hebrew  verb  is  never  used  except 
with  reference  to  this  memorable  contest,  and  that  only  twice, 
here  and  in  Hos.  12:  3,  4;  and  in  both  of  them  it  is  rendered 
in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version  "Tie  strove,"  or  "contended." 
The  A.  V.  renders  the  word  in  the  former  passage,  "as  a  prince 
thou  hast  power  with  God  and  with  men":  and  in  the  latter 
"he  had  power  over  the  Angel";  which  also  the  R.  V.  re- 
tains. 

Jacob,  delighted  beyond  measure  with  having  gained  his 
cause,  dared  in  his  turn  to  ask  him:  "Tell  me,  I  pray  thee, 
what  is  thy  name?"  The  other  refused  to  tell  him,  but  he 
blessed  him  there.  Jacob  nevertheless  gave  to  the  place  the 
name  of  "Penier'="Face  of  God"  (the  ancient  form  of  Penuel), 
saying:  "For  I  have  seen  God  face  to  face,  and  my  life  is  pre- 
served"; with  allusion  to  the  popular  belief  that  on  seeing 
the  face  of  God,  anyone  would  die.  Ch.  16:  13;  Ex.  24:  11; 
Judg.  6:  22.  Very  different  is  this  case  from  that  in  which 
Moses  besought  that  he  might  see  the  glory  of  Jehovah,  of 
which  he  already  had  a  large  experience;  and  Jehovah  re- 
plied: "Thou  canst  not  see  my  face;  for  man  shall  not  see 
me  and  live."  Ex.  33:  20.  With  respect  to  his  divine  essence, 
John  1:  18  says:  "No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time;  the 
only  begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he 
hath  declared  him";  and  with  respect  to  his  glory,  as  manifested 
in  Mount  Sinai,  Moses  himself  said:  "I  do  exceedingly  fear 
and  quake."  Heb.  12:  21.  But  the  invisible  God  has  many 
times  made  visible  manifestations  of  himself,  in  which  he 
could  be  seen  and  known,  as  in  the  case  we  have  before  us;  and 
for  this  purpose  he  has  manifested  himself  under  such  forms. 
That  popular  belief,  therefore,  was  without  foundation.  See 
the  reasoning  of  Manoah's  sensible  wife  with  him,  on  this  point, 
in  Judg.  13:  21—23. 

And  as  the  soldier  glories  in  the  scars  which  bear  honor- 
able testimony  to  the  battles  from  which  he  has  come  forth 
victorious,  so  Jacob  "as  he  passed  over  Penuel,  halted  on  his 
thigh";  and  till  the  day  of  his  death  he  carried  with  deep 
satisfaction  this  mark  of  that  conflict,  in  which  he  came  forth 
as  conqueror  both  with  respect  to  God  and  man.  With  regard 
to  "the  children  of  Israel  not  eating  of  the  sinew  of  the  thigh," 
or  "the  hip,"  I  frankly  confess  that  I  do  not  understand  it,  for 
the  tendon,  or  sinew,  is  not  eaten;  and  till  now  no  commentator 
I  have  seen  has  been  able  to  shed  light  upon  the  point. 

This  history,  so  interesting  in  itself,  and  so  consolatory 
for  the  people  of  God,  is  thus  related  by  the  prophet  Hosea: 


CHAPTER  32:  22—32  389 

"In  the  womb  he  took  his  brother  by  the  heel; 

and  in  his  manhood  he  had  power  with  God: 

yea,  he  had  power  over  the  Angel,  and  prevailed: 

he  wept  and  made  supplication  unto  him: 

he  found  him  in  Bethel, 

and  there  he  spake  with  us; 

even  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Hosts: 

Jehovah  is  his  memorial"   (or  memorial  name). 

Hos.  12:  3—5. 

Blindly  prejudiced  must  be  that  mind,  or  better  said,  that 
heart,  which  does  not  see  in  this  history  still  another  narrative 
of  the  corporeal  manifestation  of  that  divine  Word,  who  1700 
years  later  "was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us"  (John  1:  14); 
no  longer  to  take  and  lay  aside  the  human  form  as  occasion 
might  require,  but  to  become  truly  and  forever  one  of  the  race 
which  he  came  to  redeem,  and  to  bind  up  his  personal  destinies 
eternally  with  our  own;  "the  first-born  from  among  the  dead"; 
"the  beginning  of  the  [new]  creation  of  God."  Col.  1:  18;  Rev, 
3:  14. 

In  this  contest  of  Jacob  with  "the  Angel  of  the  covenant" 
(which  was  really  the  conclusion  and  completion  of  the  prayer 
which  he  offered  in  vrs.  9 — 12),  we  ought  all  to  learn  how 
to  pray;  and  particularly  in  that  declaration  of  his:  "7  will 
not  let  thee  go  until  thou  hless  me!"  Jesus  said:  "The  king- 
dom of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force." 
Matt.  11:  12.  The  negligent  hand  and  the  lukewarm  heart  will 
never  be  able  to  obtain  the  blessing.  Rev.  3:  16.  If  in  prayer 
we  are  going  to  leave  off  for  any  trifle,  being  inconstant  and  of 
a  "double  mind,"  as  James  says:  "Let  not  that  man  think  he 
shall  receive  anything  of  the  Lord."  James  1:7.  In  the  parable 
of  the  Unjust  Judge,  Jesus  teaches  us  effectively  "that  it  is 
necessary  to  pray  always,  and  not  to  faint"  (Luke  18:1 — 8); 
and  in  Luke  11:  5 — 8,  he  sets  before  us  the  effect  and  fruit  of 
importunity,  in  the  parable  of  the  man  who  wanted  three  loaves 
of  bread  at  midnight,  and  could  not  get  them,  because  every- 
body was  gone  to  bed;  but  he  would  take  no  denial,  and  kept 
on  knocking  till  he  got  what  he  needed.  "Because  of  his  im- 
portunity" is  in  the  Greek  "because  of  his  shamelessness,"  as 
if  he,  knocking,  said:  "Z  tvill  not  go  until  I  get  it!"  So  it 
was  with  Jacob:  "I  will  not  let  thee  go  until  thou  bless  me!" 
"Lord,  teach  us  to  pray!"    Luke  11:  1. 


390  GENESIS 

CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

VES.  1 — 11.     THE  MEKTING  BETWEEN  ESAU  AXD  JACOB.    (1739  B.  C.) 

1  And  Jacob  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  looked,  and,  behold.  Esau 
was  comina;,  and  with  him  four  hundred  men.  And  he  divided  the 
children  unto   Leah,   and  unto  Rachel,   and  unto  the  two  handmaids. 

2  And  he  put  the  handmaids  and  their  children  foremost,  and 
Leah  and  her  children  after,  and  Rachel  and  Joseph  hindermost. 

3  And  he  himself  passed  over  before  them,  and  bowed  himself  to 
the  ground  seven  times,  until  he  came  near  to  his  brother. 

4  And  Esau  ran  to  meet  him,  and  embraced  him,  and  fell  on  his 
neck,  and  kissed  him  :  and  they  wept. 

5  And  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  saw  the  women  and  the  chil- 
dren; and  said.  Who  are  these  with  thee?  And  he  said,  The  children 
whom  God  hath  graciously  given  thy  servant. 

6  Then  the  handmaids  came  near,  they  and  their  children,  and 
they  bowed  themselves. 

7  And  Leah  also  and  her  children  came  near,  and  bowed  them- 
selves :  and  after  came  Joseph  near  and  Rachel,  and  they  bowed 
themselves. 

8  And  he  said.  What  meanest  thou  by  all  this  company  which  I 
met?     And  he  said.  To  find  favor  in  the  sight  of  my  lord. 

9  And  Esau  said,  I  have  enough,  my  brother ;  let  that  which 
thou  hast  be  thine. 

10  And  Jacob  said.  Nay,  I  pray  thee,  if  now  I  have  found  favor  in 
thy  sight,  then  receive  my  present  at  my  hand ;  forasmuch  as  I  have 
Been  thy  face,  as  one  seeth  the  face  of  God,  and  thou  wast  pleased 
with  me. 

11  Take,  I  pray  thee,  my  gift  that  is  brought  to  thee ;  because 
God  hath  dealt  graciously  with  me,  and  because  I  have  enough.  And 
he  urged  him,  and  he  took  it. 

It  would  seem  from  ch.  32:  10  ("with  my  staff  I  passed  this 
Jordan"),  that  the  ford  of  the  Jabbok,  where  Jacob  crossed 
the  river  on  this  occasion  could  not  be  very  far  from  the  place 
where  it  empties  into  the  Jordan.  Farther  up,  the  Jabbok  passes 
as  a  foaming  torrent  through  the  elevated  table-land  of  Gil- 
ead,  between  banks  or  mountains  that  rise  from  1500  to  2000 
feet  above  its  waters,  and  the  ford  would  be  very  difficult,  and 
even  dangerous,  by  night.  On  crossing  the  river  in  the  morn- 
ing, to  rejoin  his  family  and  encampment,  the  sun  arose  upon 
him,  when  he  was  passing  the  site  where  later  stood  the 
city  of  Fennel.  From  that  point,  or  on  passing  the  river, 
he  saw  Esau  coming  with  his  400  men.  He  hastily  divided  the 
children,  putting  each  child  with  its  own  mother;  placing  the 
two  maid-servants  with  their  children  first,  and  Leah  with 
her  six  sons  and  one  daughter,  second,  and  Rachel  with  Joseph, 
last;  but  he  himself  passed  on  ahead  of  them.  He  placed  the  two 
maid-servants  and  their  children  first,  as  was  natural  and 
proper;  he  placed  Leah  and  her  children  second;  for  although 
she  was  his  first  wife,  she  was  such  by  the  trickery  and  cruel 
deceit  which  Laban  practiced  upon  him;  and  in  my  opinion 
he  did  not  do  wrong  in  this.    They  had  necessarily  to  march  in 


CHAPTER  33:  1—11  391 

a  certain  order,  and  this  was  as  good  as  any  other.  Rachel, 
whom  he  always  regarded  as  his  only  proper  and  legitimate 
wife  (see  ch.  44:  27),  and  whom  he  loved  with  an  ardor  that 
not  even  her  cold  ashes  of  forty  years,  nor  the  scanty  and 
hoary  hairs  of  his  own  extreme  old  age  were  able  to  chill, 
he  put  her  and  her  son  last.  In  conformity  with  Oriental 
usages  and  the  unavoidable  results  of  polygamy,  he  was  right 
in  this  also;  although  his  declared  partiality  for  the  son  of 
that  wife  was  going  to  cause  him  very  many  and  bitter  afflic- 
tions. Jacob  then  passed  on  before  them,  and  bowed  himself 
to  the  earth  seven  times,  till  he  came  to  his  brother.  But 
God,  who  had  wrought  such  a  notable  change  in  the  feelings  and 
purposes  of  Laban,  wrought  no  less  powerfully  in  those  of 
Esau;  so  that  he  could  not  wait  the  humble  approach  of  his 
brother,  but  ran  to  meet  him,  and  throwing  his  arms  around  his 
neck,  he  kissed  him;   and  they  wept  together. 

Among  the  persons  who  affect  new  and  strange  opinions, 
there  are  not  wanting  some  who  maintain  that  Esau  did  not 
go  out  to  meet  Jacob  with  any  hostile  intent,  but  came  with 
his  400  men  only  to  receive  his  brother  worthily  and  do  him 
honor!  as  if  the  great  fear  which  took  possession  of  Jacob 
on  receiving  the  reply  which  his  messengers  brought  him,  was 
that  of  the  "wicked  who  flee  when  no  man  pursueth"  (Prov. 
21:  8);  or  as  if  the  victorious  contest  which  he  had  sustained 
with  the  Angel  the  night  before  were  only  a  combat  with 
phantasms.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  a  very  real  danger  that 
faced  him,  and  a  very  marvelous  deliverance  which  God  wrought 
for  him;  and  so  the  Bible  always  treats  of  the  matter.  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  moment  in  which  God  wrought  this 
notable  change  in  the  feelings  and  purposes  of  Esau,  who  left 
Seir  with  400  armed  men,  and  with  hostile  intent,  it  is  prob- 
able that  his  conduct  on  this  occasion  was  as  unexpected  to 
his  own  people  as  to  Jacob,  and  that  the  change  was  no  less 
a  surprise  to  himself  than  to  them.  The  prayer  of  Jacob, 
who  placed  himself  under  the  protection  of  the  promise  and 
the  safe-conduct  of  his  God;  the  messengers  with  their  separate 
droves  of  cattle,  which  he  had  sent  the  evening  previous;  the 
victorious  contest  he  maintained  with  the  Angel  until  the  morn- 
ing, and  his  own  humble  submission,  accompanied  by  his  seven 
prostrations,  all  no  doubt  had  part  in  working  so  unexpected 
a  change  in  the  feelings  of  Esau,  whose  reconciliation  with 
his  brother  it  would  appear  was  complete  and  permanent. 

Esau  then  asked  about  the  women  and  the  children  who  at 
a  little  distance  were  coming  toward  him.     Jacob  without  mak- 


392  GENESIS 

ing  any  account  of  the  women  (according  to  Oriental  usage), 
replied:  "They  are  the  children  whom  God  has  graciously 
given,  thy  servant," — a  pious  sentiment  which  it  would  be  well 
In  our  day  to  awaken  in  the  breasts  of  many  people,  and  even 
of  many  people  professing  godliness.  When  asked  with  re- 
gard to  the  five  herds  of  cattle  which  Esau  had  met  in  the 
way,  and  about  which  he  no  doubt  had  already  received  word 
from  their  drivers,  Jacob  replied  that  they  were  a  gift,  "to  find 
favor  in  the  sight  of  my  lord."  And  when  Esau  excused  him- 
self, alleging  that  he  already  had  enough,  and  that  Jacob  should 
keep  what  was  his,  Jacob  insisted,  and  Esau  accepted  them.  No 
doubt  it  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  Jacob  to  pass  more  than 
500  head  of  cattle  over  to  the  possession  of  Esau,  not  only  to 
vent  the  deep  satisfaction  of  his  rejoicing  heart,  that  he  had 
seen  the  face  of  Esau  (that  terrible  face  from  which  twenty 
years  before  he  had  fled  in  terror — see  ch.  28:  10,  11;  35:  1  and 
comments),  "as  one  who  sees  the  face  of  God";  but  also  be- 
cause it  was  to  him  a  guaranty  of  peace  for  all  time  to  come. 
We  cannot  indeed  excuse  the  low  servility  of  Jacob,  who  seems 
to  have  forgotten  his  new  name  (ch.  32:  28);  but  we  must  re- 
member that  it  was  Jacob,  and  not  Abraham;  and  Jacob  was  al- 
ways timid  and  distrustful. 

33:  12 17.      THAT  SAME  DAY,   SEPAEATING  FROM  JACOB  IN  PEACE  AND 

HAEMONY,  ESAU  SET  OUT  ON  HIS  RETURN  TO  SEIR.    (1739  B.  C.) 

12  And  he  said,  Let  us  take  our  journey,  and  let  us  go,  and  I 
will  go  before  thee. 

13  And  he  said  unto  him,  My  lord  knoweth  that  the  children  are 
tender,  and  that  the  flocks  and  herds  with  me  have  their  young :  and 
if  they  overdrive  them  one  day,  all  the  flocks  will  die. 

14  Let  my  lord,  I  pray  thee,  pass  over  before  his  servant :  and 
I  will  lead  on  gently,  according  to  the  pace  of  the  cattle  that  are  be- 
fore me  and  according  to  the  pace  of  the  children,  until  I  come  unto 
my  lord  unto  Seir. 

15  And  Esau  said,  Let  me  now  leave  with  thee  some  of  the  folk 
that  are  with  me.  And  he  said,  What  needeth  it?  let  me  find  favor 
in  the  sight  of  my  lord. 

lf>     So  Esau  returned  that  day  on  his  way  unto  Seir. 

17  And  Jacob  journeyed  to  Succoth,  and  built  him  a  house,  and 
made  booths  for  his  cattle:  therefore  the  name  of  the  place  is  called 
Succoth.* 

*That  is.  Booths. 

Esau  then  generously  proposed  that,  as  they  were  going  in 
the  same  direction,  toward  the  south,  they  should  travel  to- 
gether, and  that  he  would  go  before  Jacob,  as  if  for  his  de- 
fence; for  in  returning  to  Seir,  Esau  might  march  either  to 
the  east  or  the  west  of  the  Salt  Sea.  It  would  have  been  an 
interesting  sight  if  the  two  brothers  had  thus  returned  to  the 


CHAPTER  33:  12—17  393 

paternal  home.  But  Jacob  excused  himself,  for  reasons  which 
appear  to  us  but  little  satisfactory,  after  the  forced  march  of 
400  miles  which  he  had  made  from  Padan-aram  to  the  moun- 
tain country  of  Gilead,  in  some  fifteen  or  twenty  days.  Ch. 
31:  23.  Esau  therefore  offered  to  leave  with  him  a  part  of 
the  men  he  brought  with  him:  but  Jacob,  suspicious  and  dis- 
trustful, whose  natural  temper  again  manifested  itself  in  un- 
favorable contrast  with  the  frank  generosity  of  Esau,  did  not 
feel  comfortable  in  the  presence  of  those  armed  men,  whose  com- 
ing had  caused  him  so  great  alarm.  It  is  plain  that  he  still 
distrusted  Esau  and  his  people,  and  could  not  feel  at  ease 
until  he  had  got  completely  rid  of  them.  He  excused  himself, 
therefore,  from  the  second  offer  as  he  had  done  from  the 
former,  with  the  promise  of  following  on  slowly,  until  he 
came  to  Jiis  lord  Esau  in  the  land  of  Seir.  It  is  probable  that 
this  was  nothing  more  than  part  of  the  excuse,  to  get  rid  of 
his  brother,  whose  superiority  and  lordship  Jacob  confessed 
with  too  great  frequency  and  servility,  to  feel  quite  easy  in 
his  presence.  On  that  same  day,  therefore,  Esau  took  leave 
of  Jacob,  and  began  his  march  to  the  land  of  Seir,  at  the  south 
of  the  Salt  Sea,  and  naturally  by  the  shorter  route,  to  the  east  of 
the  sea. 

It  seems  that  Esau  had  left  his  father  Isaac  in  the  land  of 
Canaan,  although  old  and  blind,  and  had  gone  to  Seir  some 
years  before;  to  judge  by  the  ascendency  which  he  had  al- 
ready acquired  there.  Ch.  36:  6 — 8  seems  to  indicate  that  he 
went  back  to  Canaan  after  Jacob's  return,  and  that  after  this 
he  again  returned  to  the  land  of  Seir,  for  the  same  reason 
that  Lot  separated  from  Abraham;  to  wit,  the  immense  mul- 
titude of  their  flocks  and  herds.  Ch.  13:  6,  In  any  case,  it 
is  extremely  doubtful  whether  Jacob,  who  had  received  com- 
mandment from  God  to  return  to  the  land  and  home  of  his 
father,  had  any  intention  of  following  Esau  to  Seir,  which  was 
far  to  the  S.  E.  of  Beersheba;  and  this  seems  to  have  been 
the  thought  of  the  historian,  who  goes  on  to  say  that  Jacob, 
changing  at  this  point  his  direction,  removed  his  encampment 
to  the  north,  or  N.  W.  (crossing  anew  the  Jabbok  for  this 
purpose),  and  went  to  "Succoth";  where  he  "built  for  himself 
a  house;  and  made  booths  for  his  cattle,  with  the  purpose  of 
wintering  there.  From  this  circumstance  the  location  took  the 
name  of  "Succoth"  (=Booths).  Succoth  was  to  the  north  of 
the  Jabbok,  in  the  plain  of  the  Jordan,  on  the  eastern  side 
of  the  river.  2  Chron.  4:  16,  17.  It  is  not  difficult  for  us  to 
understand  why  Jacob  did  not  follow  his  brother  to  Seir;    but 


394  GENESIS 

it  does  cause  us  no  little  surprise  that  he  did  not  continue  his 
journey  to  Beersheba,  where  he  had  left  his  aged  parents  twenty 
years  before.  See  ch.  35:  27  and  comments.  Perhaps  the  slow- 
ness of  Jacob  in  returning  to  his  father's  side,  and  the  reason 
why  Esau  had  withdrawn  from  his  encampment  to  establish 
himself  in  the  mountain  country  of  Seir,  may  have  one  and 
the  same  explanation;  having  to  do,  perhaps,  with  the  senility 
or  dotage  of  the  blind  old  man,  who  twenty  years  before  was 
such  an  invalid  that  he  himself  and  everybody  else  believed 
that  he  was  soon  to  die.  Ch.  27:  2,  41.  In  this  view  of  the 
case,  it  is  likely  that  Jacob  changed  his  plan  and  took  his 
journey  towards  the  north,  in  virtue  of  information  which 
Esau  had  given  him  of  the  family — the  death  of  his  mother,  and 
the  imbecility  of  his  father. 

33:  18 — 20.    jacob  crosses  the  jokdan,  and  goes  to  the  citt  of 
SHECHEM.     (Of  uncertain  date.) 

18  And  Jacob  came  in  peace  to  the  city*  of  Shechem,  which  is  in 
the  land  of  Canaan,  when  he  came  from  Paddan-aram ;  and  encamped 
before  the  city. 

19  And  he  bought  the  parcel  of  ground,  where  he  had  spread  his 
tent.t  at  the  hand  of  the  childi'en  of  Hamor,  Shecbem's  father,  for 
a  hundred   pieces  of   money. t 

20  And   he   erected  there  an  altar,  and  called   it   El-EIohe-Israel. 
i*Or,  to  Slialem,  a  city,  etc.]  [fJ/ofZ.  Span.  Ver.  pitched  liis  tents.] 

tHcb.    Ivesitali. 

Jacob  must  have  remained  several  years  in  Succoth,  where 
he  built  for  himself  a  house  and  made  booths  for  his  cattle. 
Vr.  17.  This  would  be  but  a  few  months  after  his  departure 
from  Padan-aram;  a  time  when  Joseph  and  Dinah  (who  were 
nearly  of  the  same  age)  were  a  little  more  than  six  years  old 
(ch,  30:  25,  32;  31:  41);  and  it  would  seem  from  vrs.  17  and 
18  that  Jacob  passed  straight  from  Succoth  to  Shechem,  where 
the  rape  of  Dinah  took  place,  seemingly  only  a  few  months 
after  the  family  had  arrived  there.  She  must  at  that  time 
have  been  twelve  or  fourteen  years  old;  so  that  Jacob  would 
necessarily  have  spent  seven  or  eight  years  in  Succoth,  or  in 
some  other  place  not  mentioned,  before  going  to  Shechem. 
During  these  seven  or  eight  years  it  must  have  been  that 
"Judah,  separating  himself  from  his  brethren"  (being  at  the 
time  a  youth  of  15  years  perhaps),  crossed  the  Jordan,  and 
formed  in  the  land  of  Canaan  that  matrimonial  alliance  which 
cost  him  and  his  family  so  dear.    See  comments  on  ch.  38:  1,  2. 

Leaving  at  last  his  house  and  his  cattle-booths  in  Succoth, 
Jacob  crossed  the  river  Jordan,  and  removed  to  the  city  of 
Shechem,    in    what   was   afterwards    the    mountain    country    of 


CHAPTER  33:  18—20  395 

Ephraim,  and  bought  for  himself  a  large  tract  of  land,  where 
he  had  encamped  before  the  city.  The  text  says  "he  bought 
a  part  of  the  field";  because  the  cultivated  land  around  the 
cities  was  all  open,  and  without  fences,  and  every  owner  had 
"his  part"  determined  by  landmarks,  or  heaps  of  stones.  See 
Ruth  2:  3;    Deut.  19:  14. 

The  lexicographer  Gesenius  denies  that  the  word  "kesitah" 
signifies  a  sheep  or  a  lamb  (as  given  in  the  margin  of  our 
English  Bible),  and  fixes  its  value  at  about  four  shekels, 
or  $2.40,  each,  of  our  money;  which  would  make  the  price 
of  that  piece  of  land  equal  to  that  of  the  field  and  cave  of 
Machpelah  which  Abraham  bought  in  Mamre,  near  to  Hebron, 
130  years  before  (ch.  23:16);  to  wit,  400  shekels,  of  60  cents 
each,  or  $240  of  our  money.  We  shall  judge  the  price  exorbitant 
in  both  cases,  when  we  consider  that  many  years  after  this, 
a  slave  was  worth  30  shekels  (Ex.  21:  32),  and  the  hire  of  a 
free  and  intelligent  man,  "a  father  and  a  priest,"  did  not  ex- 
ceed ten  shekels  a  year,  with  his  victuals,  and  a  suit  of  ap- 
parel. Judg.  17:  10.  Abraham  weighed  the  money  in  balances, 
while  Jacob  apparently  made  payment  in  pieces  of  recognized 
value  called  kesitahs.  As  the  art  of  coining  money  was  not 
invented  for  many  ages  after  this,  these  pieces  of  money  would 
be  bars  or  ingots  of  metal,  cut  or  moulded,  and  having  their 
value  stamped  on  them.  But  the  use  of  money,  in  pieces  of 
determined  value,  marks  a  great  advance  in  the  transaction  of 
business. 

The  words  "came  in  peace"  may  signify  that  there  had  been 
some  disturbance  of  the  peace  in  Succoth;  or  it  may  contain 
an  allusion  to  his  return  in  peace  to  the  land  of  Canaan  (which 
always  in  the  Bible  signifies  the  country  to  the  loest  of  the 
Jordan),  from  whence  he  had  gone  forth  27  or  28  years  before, 
and  seems  to  indicate  the  fulfilment  of  the  term  named  in 
his  vow — "so  that  I  return  in  peace  to  the  house  of  my  father." 
Others,  however,  prefer  to  translate  it:  "And  Jacob  came  to 
Shalem,  a  city  of  Shechem";  which  would  perhaps  give  us 
to  understand  that  Shalem  was,  at  that  time,  the  name  of  the 
city  of  Shechem,  the  son  of  Hamor,  which  later  was  called  by 
his  name, — a  famous  city  of  Israel,  situated  in  what  was  and 
still  is  the  most  beautiful  and  fertile  part  of  the  country. 

There  Jacob  built  an  altar  and  called  it:  "El  Elohe-Israel" 
(i=God,  the  God  of  Israel;  or,  the  Mighty  God  of  Israel),  mak- 
ing use  for  the  first  time  of  the  new  name  which  the  Angel 
gave  him  when  Jacob  contended  victoriously  with  him. 


396  GENESIS 

CHAPTER  XXXrV. 

YES.     1 — 5.       DINAH,    THE    ONLY    DAUGHTER    OF    JACOB,    IS    RAVISHED. 
(1732    B.    C.) 

1  And  Dinah,  the  daughter  of  Leah,  whom  she  bare  unto  Jacob, 
went  out  to  see  the  daughters  of  the  land. 

2  And  Shechem  the  son  of  Hanior  the  Hivite,  the  prince  of  the 
land,  saw  her ;  and  he  took  her,  and  lay  with  her,  and  humbled  her. 

3  And  his  soul  clave  unto  Dinah  tlie  daughter  of  Jacob,  and  he 
loved  the  damsel,  and  spake  kindly  unto  the  damsel. 

4  And  Shechem  spake  unto  his  father  Hamor,  saying.  Get  me 
this  damsel  to  wife. 

5  Now  Jacob  heard  that  he  had  defiled  Dinah  his  daughter;  and 
his  sons  were  with  his  cattle  in  the  field :  and  Jacob  held  his  peace 
until  they  came. 

In  the  midst  of  such  distinguished  mercies,  and  so  great 
honors,  which  God  granted  to  his  servant  Jacob,  there  befell  him 
the  bitterest  and  most  humiliating  of  calamities.  His  daughter 
Dinah,  being  of  nearly  the  same  age  as  Joseph  (who  when  sold 
into  Egypt  was  17  years  old,  ch.  37:  2),  must  have  been  at  this 
time  twelve  or  fourteen.  They  had  lived  probably  some  little 
while  before  the  city,  and  would  be  well  known  by  the  people, 
when  Dinah  went  out  one  day  "to  see  the  daughters  of  the  land." 
It  is  probable  that  she  went  out  more  than  once,  though  there 
is  nothing  in  the  Hebrew  to  indicate  it,  and  it  may  be  that 
consequences  so  fatal  to  many  followed  upon  the  first  act  of 
indiscretion  which  she  committed.  The  Jewish  historian  Jo- 
sephus  says  that  it  was  on  the  occasion  of  some  feast  of  the 
people,  and  that  Dinah's  curiosity  being  awakened,  she  "went 
out  to  see  the  finery  of  the  women  of  the  land."  It  seems  im- 
possible that  she  should  have  gone  out  without  accompaniment. 
But  it  is  very  plain  that  she  did  not  have  the  attendance  of 
persons  capable  of  protecting  her  in  the  emergency  which  pre- 
sented itself;  and  for  that  reason  it  is  probable  that  she  went 
out  without  the  knowledge  of  her  father,  who  was  well  acquainted 
with  the  customs,  none  too  pure,  of  the  Canaanites.  There 
Shechem,  the  son  of  Hamor,  the  prince  of  the  country,  saw 
her,  and  at  once  became  so  enamored  of  her,  that  he  took 
her  by  force  and  violated  her  person.  It  is  probable  that  as 
a  prince,  accustomed  to  make  use  of  his  authority  to  effect 
his  ends,  he  did  with  her  as  he  would  have  done  with  one 
of  his  own  people.  Nevertheless  he  loved  the  damsel  very 
sincerely,  and  consoled  her  in  her  sorrow  and  humiliation  with 
his  caresses,  and  with  the  promise  of  honorable  marriage.  He 
kept  her  in  his  own  house,  by  force  no  doubt,  but  did  every- 
thing in  his  power  to  make  reparation  for  the  crime  committed, 
proposing  and   promising  to  marry  her  openly  and   honorably. 


CHAPTER  34:  6—12  397 

Barring  *he  crime  already  committed  (which  for  people  of  their 
degraded  customs  would  have  been  accounted  a  signal  honor, 
rather  than  a  misfortune,  if  accompanied  with  a  promise  of 
marriage  to  a  prince),  the  procedure  of  the  young  man  was 
in  every  respect  gentlemanly  and  worthy  of  a  prince.  Jacob 
heard  of  what  had  happened,  but  he  held  his  peace  until  his 
sons  returned  from  the  field  or  country,  where  they  were  with 
the  cattle. 

34:  6 — 12.  HAMOR  and  shechem,  his  son,  go  out  to  the  en- 
campment OF  JACOB  TO  TREAT  OF  THE  MATTER  WITH  HIM  AND 
HIS   SONS.      (1732  B.   C.) 

6  And  Hamor  the  father  of  Shechem  went  out  unto  Jacob  to 
commune   with   him. 

7  And  the  sons  of  Jacob  came  in  from  the  field  when  they  heard 
it :  and  the  men  were  grieved,  and  they  were  very  wroth,  because 
lie  lind  wrought  folly  in  Israel  in  lying  with  Jacob's  daughter;  which 
thing  ought  not  to  be  done. 

8  And  riamor  communed  with  them,  saying,  The  soul  of  my  son 
Shechem  longeth  for  your  daughter :  I  pray  you,  give  her  unto  him 
to  wife. 

0  And  make  ye  marriages  with  us ;  give  your  daughters  unto  us, 
and  take  our  daughters  unto  you. 

10  And  ye  shall  dwell  with  us :  and  the  land  shall  be  before 
you :  dwell  and  trade  ye  therein,  and  get  you  possessions  therein. 

11  And  Shechem  said  unto  her  father  and  unto  her  brethren. 
Let  me  find  favor  in  your  eyes,  and  what  ye  shall  say  unto  me  I 
will  give. 

12  Ask  me  never  so  much  dowry  and  gift,  and  I  will  give  accord- 
ing as  ye  shall  say  unto  me :  but  give  me  the  damsel  to  wife. 

In  this  case,  as  in  every  other,  the  Bible,  wholly  different 
from  all  merely  human  writings,  does  not  dissemble  or  excusd 
the  wickedness  of  the  sons  of  Jacob,  nor  minimize  in  any  respect 
the  noble  frankness  and  generosity  of  Hamor  and  his  son.  In 
possession  of  their  own  city  (a  walled  city,  vr.  20),  and  in  the 
most  prosperous  part  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  they  might  well 
have  retired  within  their  defences,  and  from  thence  have  de- 
fied Jacob  and  his  encampment  of  nomads.  But  on  the  con- 
trary, and  without  waiting  for  the  complaints  of  the  father 
and  brothers  of  Dinah,  they  presented  themselves  in  the  en- 
campment of  Jacob  to  treat  of  the  matter  and  to  remedy  as 
far  as  possible  the  wrong  already  done,  with  offers  of  legitimate 
and  honorable  marriage.  The  sons  of  Jacob  who  were  in 
the  field,  on  hearing  of  it,  left  their  cattle  with  their  herdsmen, 
and  came  to  the  city,  distressed,  chagrined  and  burning  in 
anger.  Hamor,  as  the  prince  of  the  country,  made  them  from 
his  point  of  view  the  most  flattering  offers,  together  with  a  part 
in  what  is  still  the  most  desirable  region  of  Palestine;  while 
the  young  man,  with  a  humility  and  courtesy  above  all  praise, 


398  GENESIS 

offered  them  that  he  would  do  whatever  they  said,  and  pay 
dowry  and  gifts  as  much  as  they  might  appoint,  provided  only 
they  would  give  him  the  young  woman  for  his  wife;  who  must 
have  been  very  beautiful  to  inspire  him  with  such  a  passion. 
Of  course  the  offer  of  Hamor  and  his  son,  that  the  two  peoples 
should  unite  by  means  of  intermarriages,  and  become  one 
nation,  was  totally  contrary  to  the  purpose  of  God  in  separat- 
ing the  children  of  Abraham  from  all  other  peoples  and  nations; 
but  it  was  not  on  that  account  the  less  honorable  on  their 
part,  or  the  less  advantageous  for  Jacob  and  his  sons,  from  their 
point  of  view. 

34:  13 — 17.       THE     TEEACHEROUS     REPLY     OF     THE     SONS     OF     JACOB. 

(1732  B.  c.) 

13  And  the  sons  of  Jacob  answered  Shechem  and  Hamor  hia 
father  with  guile,  and  spalie,  because  he  had  defiled  Dinah  their 
sister, 

14  and  said  unto  them,  We  cannot  do  this  thing,  to  give  our 
sister  to  one  that  is  uncircumcised  ;  for  that  were  a  reproach  unto  us. 

15  Only  on  this  condition  will  we  consent  unto  you  :  if  ye  will  be 
as  we  are,  that  every  male  of  you  be  circumcised ; 

16  then  will  we  give  our  daughters  unto  you,  and  we  will  take 
your  daughters  to  us,  and  we  will  dwell  with  you,  and  we  will  become 
one  people. 

17  But  if  ye  will  not  hearken  unto  us,  to  be  circumcised ;  then 
will  we  take  our  daughter,  and  we  will  be  gone. 

The  sons  of  Jacob  had  evidently  consulted  among  themselves 
about  the  case  and  the  proposals  made,  and  it  may  be  that 
they  had  arranged  some  plan  of  vengeance  before  they  returned 
from  the  field;  and  intent  on  taking  a  complete  revenge,  rather 
than  on  remedying  as  far  as  possible  the  wrong  done  their 
Bister,  they  accepted  the  offer  of  Hamor  and  Shechem,  but 
with  one  indispensable  condition,  to  wit,  that  these  princes 
and  all  their  people  should  become  Hebrews,  by  receiving  the 
distinctive  rite  of  circumcision.  Horrible  prostitution  of  a  re- 
ligious rite,  and  this  to  cover  the  blackest  and  most  infamous 
treachery!  It  is  difiicult  to  conceive  of  so  artful  a  plot  and 
so  hideous  a  crime  being  arranged  in  a  moment;  for  which 
reason  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  they  heard  in  the  field 
something  with  regard  to  the  proposals  of  Shechem  and  his 
father,  and  had  already  their  plan  well  prepared.  On  this 
condition,  therefore,  they  agreed  to  accede  to  the  wishes  of 
Shechem  and  his  father,  with  the  understanding  that  they 
should  become  Israelites,  rather  than  that  Jacob  and  his  people 
should  become  Canaanites.  In  this  Jacob  was  not  consulted; 
a  circumstance  to  which  he   perhaps  refers   in  the  words: 


CHAPTER  34:  18—24  S99 

"Oh  my  soul,  come  not  thou  into  their  counsel; 

unto  their  assembly,  my  glory,  be  not  thou  united!"    Ch.  49:  6. 

34:  18 — 24.     HAMOB  and   shechem   accept  the   conditions,   and 

GAIN   THE   CONSENT   OF  THEIR  PEOPLE:    THEY   ALL   EECEIVE   THE    DIS- 
TINCTIVE KITE  OF  ISRAELITES.       (1732   B.   C.) 

18  And  their  words  pleased  Hamor,  and  Shechem  Hamor's  son. 

19  And  the  young  man  deferred  not  to  do  the  thing,  because  he 
had  delight  in  Jacob's  daughter :  and  he  was  honored  above  all  the 
house   of   his   father. 

20  And  Hamor  and  Shechem  his  son  came  unto  the  gate  of  their 
city,  and  communed  with  the  men  of  their  city,  saying, 

21  These  men  are  peaceable  with  us ;  therefore  let  them  dwell 
in  the  land,  and  trade  therein  ;  for,  behold,  the  land  is  large  enough 
for  them  ;  let  us  take  their  daughters  to  us  for  wives,  and  let  us 
give  them  our  daughters. 

22  Only  on  this  condition  will  the  men  consent  unto  us  to 
dwell  with  us,  to  become  one  people,  if  every  male  among  us  be 
circumcised,   as  they  are  circumcised. 

23  Shall  not  their  cattle  and  their  substance  and  all  their  beasts 
be  ours?  only  let  us  consent  unto  them,  and  they  will  dwell  with  us. 

24  And  unto  Hamor  and  unto  Shechem  his  son  hearkened  all  that 
went  out  of  the  gate  of  his  city ;  and  every  male  was  circumcised, 
all   that   went   out   of   the   gate   of   his   city. 

Shechem  and  his  father,  without  suspecting  any  malice,  saw 
the  reasonableness  of  the  change  proposed  in  their  own  plan,  and 
accepted  the  modification;  since  it  little  mattered  to  them  (as 
is  true  of  worldly  people  generally),  whether  they  were  Israelites 
or  Canaanites,  so  that  they  gained  their  object:  Shechem 
would  gain  his  beloved  Dinah,  and  Hamor,  as  the  prince 
of  the  country,  would  perhaps  double  the  numbers  and  the 
riches  of  his  principality.  Without  any  difficulty,  therefore, 
they  made  the  agreement;  and  as  the  young  man,  different  from 
ravishers  in  general,  was  more  and  more  blindly  in  love  with 
the  daughter  of  Jacob,  he  did  not  wish  to  delay  for  a  day  or 
an  hour  the  fulfilment  of  the  condition  inexorably  imposed  on 
them:  and  he  was  the  most  distinguished  (not  the  "most  honor- 
able," as  says  our  common  English  Version)  of  the  family  of 
his  father — the  most  popular,  and  the  one  who  had  most  in- 
fluence among  the  people,  both  for  what  he  was,  and  for 
what  he  was  going  to  be,  as  the  presumptive  heir  of  his 
father. 

The  two  princes  repaired  at  once  to  the  gate  of  the  city, 
where  all  public  business  was  transacted,  and  made  use  of 
arguments  and  persuasions  with  the  people;  and  their  authority 
gave  double  effect  to  their  words.  "Obeyed,"  in  the  Spanish 
of  vr.  24,  is  the  ordinary  translation  of  the  Hebrew  to  "hear"  or 
"hearken"  when  it  has  reference  to  the  words  of  one  who  has  au- 
thority to  command.     The  arguments  which  they  used  were  (1) 


400  GENESIS 

that  the  land  was  amply  large  for  both  peoples;  (2)  that  Jacob 
and  his  people  were  highly  respectable  and  rich,  and  would  be 
a  valuable  acquisition  for  the  State;  (3)  the  prospect  of  new 
matrimonial  alliances;  which  would  not  fail  to  have  a  powerful 
attraction  for  the  young  people  of  both  sexes;  as  it  happened 
with  the  young  prince;  (4)  the  great  increase  of  political  power, 
which  the  incorporation  of  the  two  peoples  would  give  them, 
was  an  argument  which  appealed  to  the  patriotic  spirit  of  all; 
and  (5)  the  increase  of  material  riches  would  put  in  vibration 
a  cord  of  the  human  heart  which  all  the  world  understands. 
Some  years  later,  when  this  same  Jacob  and  his  sons  went  down 
into  Egypt,  Pharaoh  himself  regarded  their  coming,  with  all  their 
possessions,  as  an  event  both  interesting  and  important  for  his 
kingdom.     Ch.  45:  16—20. 

As  Jacob  apparently  had  no  other  daughter  but  Dinah,  and 
his  older  sons  had  hardly  begun  to  have  families  of  their  own, 
it  is  plain  that  the  marriages  proposed  were  with  women  of 
Jacob's  encampment — his  servants,  or  slaves,  "born  in  his  house 
or  bought  with  his  money"  (ch  17:  13,  27);  which  gives  us  a 
surprising  idea  both  of  his  riches  and  of  the  numbers  of  his 
people;  and  besides,  it  also  greatly  modifies  the  ordinary  idea 
of  the  slavery  of  those  ancient  times.  See  the  comment  on 
ch.  15:  2,  3.  Here  we  see  that  the  free-born  Canaanites  did 
not  disdain  matrimonial  alliances  with  the  women-servants  of 
Jacob,  but  exactly  the  contrary;  and  we  shall  see  farther  on 
that  the  very  sons  of  Jacob  married  women  of  the  same  class, 
with  such  uniformity,  that  one  of  the  sons  of  Simeon  bears  the 
mark  or  note  of  being  "the  son  of  a  Canaanitish  woman"  (ffeft. 
the  Canaanitess,  ch.  46:  10);  and  we  are  particularly  told  (as 
of  an  exceptional  case)  that  all  the  family  of  Judah  proceeded 
from  two  women  of  the  country,  Canaanites  likewise.  Ch.  38:  2, 
6,  11. 

These  arguments  and  persuasions,  backed  by  the  influence 
and  authority  of  the  two  princes,  had  the  desired  effect;  and 
they  all  submitted  to  the  administration  of  the  rite  of  circumci- 
sion— "all  that  went  out  of  the  gate  of  the  city."  The  neces- 
sity of  entering  in  and  going  out  by  one  or  a  very  few  gates, 
greatly  facilitated  the  matter;  and  when  the  princes,  and  the 
grandees,  and  the  generality  of  the  people  set  the  example,  such 
is  the  disposition  and  character  of  mankind,  that  the  rest  would 
of  themselves  seek  the  rite  which  was  already  "the  mode."  In 
this  way  the  treacherous  sons  of  Jacob  gained  their  object,  viz., 
that  of  putting  Hamor  and  Shechem,  with  all  their  male  sub- 
jects, in  such  a  condition  that  they  were  incapable  of  defending 


CHAPTER  34:  25—29  401 

themselves.  In  this  we  see  manifested  the  illimitable  confidence 
which  Joshua  and  the  princes  of  Israel  had  in  their  God,  that 
they  obeyed  without  hesitation  the  divine  order  to  put  the 
whole  encampment  of  Israel  in  the  same  defenceless  condition, 
after  they  had  crossed  the  Jordan  and  were  in  the  very  presence 
of  the  Canaanites.     Josh,  5:  2 — 8. 

34:  25 — 29.    the  inhuman  and  saceilegious  vengeance  taken  by 

SIMEON    AND    LEVI,    AND    BY    THE    OTHEE    SONS    OF    JACOB.        (1732 
B.  C.) 

25  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  third  day,  when  they  were  sore, 
that  two  of  the  sons  of  Jacob,  Simeon  and  Levi,  Dinah's  brethren, 
took  each  man  his  sword,  and  came  upon  the  city  unawares,*  and  sU'w 
all  the  males. 

26  And  they  slew  Hamor  and  Shechem  his  son  with  the  edge  of 
the  sword,  and  took  Dinah  out  of  Shechem's  house,  and  went  forth. 

27  The  sons  of  Jacob  came  upon  the  slain,  and  plundered  the 
city,    because   they    had    defiled   their   sister. 

28  They  took  their  flocks  and  their  herds  and  their  asses,  and  that 
which  was  in  the  city,  and  that  which   was  in  the  field  ; 

29  and  all  their  wealth,  and  all  their  little  ones  and  their  wives, 
took  they  captive  and  made  a  prey,  even  all  that  was  in  the  house. 

•Or,  toldly. 

On  the  third  day,  when  the  men  of  the  city  were  incapable 
of  self-defence,  Simeon  and  Levi,  brothers  of  Dinah  by  the 
same  mother,  girded  on  each  his  sword,  and  entered  boldly 
into  the  city,  and  going  from  street  to  street,  and  from  house 
to  house,  they  put  to  the  sword  all  the  males;  and  all  this 
on  account  of  the  crime  of  a  single  man!  We  do  not  know 
what  were  the  determining  reasons  why  only  Simeon  and  Levi 
should  undertake  this  diabolical  work — they  only  of  all  the 
sons  of  Jacob,  they  only  of  all  the  six  full  brothers  of  Dinah; 
unless  it  be  that  the  atrocity  of  the  crime  and  the  terrible 
consequences  to  which  it  would  expose  them  all,  at  the  last 
moment  deterred  them  from  the  execution  of  what  was  evi- 
dently the  plan  of  all.  What  is  said  in  vr.  13  does  not  permit 
us  to  suppose  that  the  audacious  act  of  Simeon  and  Levi  pre- 
vented the  performance  of  an  agreement  which  the  rest  had 
made  with  Hamor  and  Shechem  in  good  faith.  All  of  them, 
then,  took  part  in  the  plan,  and  all  of  them  rushed  upon  the 
booty,  although  Simeon  and  Levi  only,  because  more  resolute, 
daring,  or  rash,  attacked  the  city  and  put  to  the  sword  all  the 
men.  The  curse  (for  it  was  nothing  less)  which  their  father 
pronounced  upon  these  two  sons  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
shows  that  their  crime  was  more  aggravated  and  horrible  than 
the  part  which  the  rest  took  in  the  matter.  It  is  probable 
that  if  they  had  not  attacked  the  city,  the  others  would  have 


402  GENESIS 

done  nothing.    The  words  of  their. father,  forty  years  after,  show 
his  concentrated  abhorrence  of  the  act: 

"Simeon  and  Levi  are  brethren; 

weapons   of   violence   are    their    swords    [M.    S.    V.,   their 

compacts.] 
Oh  my  soul,  come  not  thou  into  their  council; 
unto  their  assembly,  my  glory,  be  not  thou  united; 
for  in  their  anger  they  slew  a  man  [or  men], 
and  in  their  self-will  they  hocked  an  ox  [or  oxen]. 
Cursed  be  their  anger,  for  it  was  fierce; 
and  their  wrath,  for  it  was  cruel! 

I  will  divide  them  in  Jacob  and  scatter  them  in  Israel." 

Ch.  49:  5—7. 

This  terrible  vengeance  we  are  three  times  told  was  because 
(in  the  person  of  their  young  prince)  the  Shechemites  had 
violated  their  sister. 

34:  30,  31.  jacob  is  greatly  troubled,  and  heaps  bitter  re- 
proaches ON  SIMEON  AND  LEVI:  THEY  JUSTIFY,  OB  EXCUSE,  THEIB 
CONDUCT  BY  THE  DISHONOR  DONE  TO  THEIR  SISTER.       (1732  B.  C.) 

30  And  Jacob  said  to  Simeon  and  Levi,  Ye  have  troubled  me, 
to  make  me  odious  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  among  the  Canaan- 
ites  and  the  Perizzites :  and,  I  being  few  in  number,  they  will  gather 
themselves  together  against  me  and  smite  me ;  and  I  shall  be  de- 
stroyed, I  and  my  house. 

31  And  they  said,  Should  he  deal  with  our  sister  as  with  a  harlot? 

Jacob  was  naturally  timid;  but  if  he  had  been  as  valiant  as 
he  was  timid,  this  act  of  Simeon  and  Levi,  as  insane  as  it 
was  criminal,  and  the  sack  of  the  city  in  which  all  his  sons 
took  part,  placed  him  in  circumstances  such  as  would  fill  him 
with  terror.  But  when  he  reproached  bitterly  and  with  deep 
feeling  their  conduct  and  the  extreme  peril  which  was  threaten- 
ing them  all  (and  which  only  the  divine  interposition  averted, 
ch.  35:  5),  they  gave  for  sufficient  answer:  "should  he  deal 
WITH  our  sister  AS  WITH  A  HARLOT?"  Notable  from  every  point 
of  view  is  this  reply,  and  serves  in  part  to  explain,  and  in 
part  has  served  to  perpetuate,  what  has  been  and  still  is  a 
distinctive  trait  of  the  Jewish  people.  It  is  the  prerogative  of 
God  to  bring  good  out  of  evil;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that, 
however  horrible  the  crime  of  the  sons  of  Jacob  in  this  mat- 
ter, it  has  served  powerfully  to  mould  the  social  customs  of 
that  nation,  in  all  their  wanderings,  whose  women,  taken  as 
a  whole,  are  perhaps  the  most  virtuous  in  the  world.  Even  in 
the  days  of  Solomon,  the  adulteress,  the  harlot,  the  courtesan, 


CHAPTER  35:  1—5  403 

whom  he  paints  in  the  book  of  Proverbs,  is  ordinarily  "the 
strange  (or  foreign)  woman"  in  Hebrew,  and  "the  daughter  of 
a  strange  (or  foreign)  land."  See  Prov.  2:  16;  5:  20;  7:  5. 
Indelible  has  been  the  impression  produced  by  this  most  horrible 
deed  in  the  mind  of  the  people  of  Israel, — but  beneficent.  The 
honor  of  woman  is  worth  more  than  her  life;  and  when  any  peo- 
ple or  nation  comes  to  regard  it  with  indifference,  or  to  palliate 
as  a  mere  slip  the  dishonor  of  their  women,  its  ruin  is  near  at 
hand. 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

VES.  1 — 5.  GOD  INTERPOSES  TO  PEEVENT  AN  EXEMPLARY  AND  WELL 
MERITED  PUNISHMENT  PUTTING  AN  END  TO  THE  HOPES  OF  THE 
WORLD.       (1732   B.   C.) 

1  And  God  said  unto  Jacob,  Arise,  go  up  to  Beth-el,  and  dwell 
there :  and  make  there  an  altar  unto  God,  who  appeared  unto  thee 
when   thou    fleddest   from   the   face   of   Esau   thy   brother. 

2  Then  Jacob  said  unto  his  househohl,  and  to  all  that  were 
with  him.  Put  away  the  foreign  gods*  that  are  among  you,  and 
purify  yourselves,  and  change  your  garments  : 

3  and  let  us  arise,  and  go  up  to  Beth-el ;  and  I  will  make  there 
an  altar  unto  God,  who  answered  me  in  the  day  of  my  distress,  and 
was   with   me   in    the   way   which   I   went. 

4  And  they  gave  unto  Jacob  all  the  foreign  gods  which  were  in 
their  hand,  and  the  rings  which  were  in  their  ears ;  and  Jacob  hid 
them  under  the  oakf  which  was  by  Shechem. 

5  And  they  journeyed  :  and  a  terror  of  God  was  upon  the  cities 
that  were  round  about  them,  and  they  did  not  pursue  after  the 
sons  of  Jacob. 

*.i.    V   and  BI.   S.   V.,  strange  gods.  tOr,   terebinth. 

In  this  moment  of  supreme  exigency  and  perplexity  for  Jacob, 
and  of  the  gravest  danger  to  the  cause  of  God  in  this  world, 
the  "Keeper  of  Israel,  who  neither  slumbers  nor  sleeps"  (Ps. 
121:  4),  interposed  his  arm,  not  for  the  protection  of  criminals, 
but  for  the  defence  of  his  own  cause  and  kingdom,  and  to 
carry  forward  his  plans  for  the  redemption  of  mankind; 

"Remembering  his  holy  covenant, 

the  oath  which  he  sware  unto  Abraham  cur  father." 

Luke  1:  72,  73. 
He  therefore  commanded  Jacob  to  break  up  his  encampment, 
and  remove  southward  to  Bethel,  and  dwell  there;  and  to 
make  there  an  altar  (and  offer  its  corresponding  sacrifices,  of 
course),  to  the  God  who  had  appeared  to  him  on  another  oc- 
casion of  imminent  peril,  "when  he  was  fleeing  from  the  face 
of  Esau  his  brother."  This  plainly  reminded  Jacob  of  hia 
sin  in  deferring  for  seven  or  eight  years  the  fulfilment  of  the 


404  GENESIS 

vow  he  had  made  in  Bethel  and  seems  to  give  us  to  under- 
stand that  God  took  occasion  from  the  rape  of  Dinah  and  the 
crime  and  the  peril  consequent  thereupon,  and  from  the  an- 
guish of  the  patriarch,  to  bring  to  his  memory  his  neglected 
duties.  It  is  useless  to  ask  why  he  did  not  remind  him  of  this 
sooner:  God  usually  makes  the  errors  of  his  children  to  serve 
likewise  for  their  correction. 

When  we  call  to  mind  the  act  of  Rachel,  the  favorite  wife 
of  Jacob,  in  stealing  the  gods  of  her  father  and  hiding  them 
beneath  her,  as  a  treasure  (ch.  31:  19,  30,  34),  and  the  fact 
related  in  vr.  2  of  this  chapter,  that  the  family  and  all  the  en- 
campment of  Jacob  was  still  infested  with  "strange  gods,"  we 
will  not  allow  to  pass  unobserved  the  circumstance,  twice  re- 
peated, that  he  was  going  up  to  Bethel  to  worship  the  God 
of  Abraham,  the  same  who  appeared  there  to  him,  when  he 
was  fleeing  from  the  face  of  Esau; — the  God  who  had  answered 
him  in  the  day  of  his  distress. 

This  slowness  of  Jacob  to  fulfil  the  vow  made  in  Bethel,  which 
he  ought  to  have  performed  when  he  "returned  in  peace"  from 
Padan-aram,  rather  than  seven  or  eight  years  after  his  re- 
turn, naturally  produced  other  acts  of  carelessness  and  negligence 
in  the  service  of  God.  It  does  not  strike  us  as  strange,  there- 
fore, that  by  consent  or  connivance  of  Jacob,  the  idolatries  of 
Haran  were  still  practiced  by  the  generality  of  his  people,  and 
even  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  family.  "Then  Jacob  said  unto 
his  household  and  unto  all  that  were  with  him;  Put  away  the 
strange  gods  that  are  among  you,"  etc.  Vrs.  2,  3.  The  mercy, 
goodness  and  fidelity  of  God,  of  which  Jacob  makes  so  feeling 
mention  in  these  verses,  place  in  an  odious  light,  his  long 
delay  in  performing  what  he  had  vowed  to  do  28  years  before. 
But  although  late,  Jacob  began  in  Shechem  to  cleanse  his  en- 
campment of  idolatry,  as  became  the  vow  of  him  who  had  said: 
"then  ''shall  Jehovah  he  my  God,"  and,  by  necessary  implication, 
the  God  of  his  encampment.  "So  they  gave  unto  Jacob  all 
the  strange  gods  that  were  in  their  hands,  and  the  rings  that 
were  in  their  ears;  and  Jacob  hid  them  under  the  oak  (or 
terebinth)  which  was  in  Shechem."  The  ear-rings  it  is  to 
be  supposed,  would  bear  some  insignia  of  the  idolatries  of 
Haran;,  which  placed  them  in  the  same  condemnation.  We 
have  here  "ear-rings"  instead  of  the  "nose-ring"  of  ch.  24:  47. 
Three  hundred  years  later,  Joshua  celebrated  a  covenant  with 
the  people,  likewise  in  Shechem,  and  he  made  them  to  swear 
that  they  would  put  away  the  strange  gods  that  were  among 
them,    in   order   to   serve   Jehovah   alone;    and    taking   a   great 


CHAPTER  35:  6—8  405 

stone  he  raised  it  up  there  beneath  the  oak  that  was  by  the 
Sanctuary  of  the  Lord,  to  serve  as  a  witness  of  this  oath. 
Josh.  24:  26.  The  two  "oaks"  mentioned  may  have  been  the 
same  tree;  oaks  were  long-lived  in  Palestine,  and  both  are 
spoken  of  as  "the  oak":  yet  in  Hebrew  the  words  are  not  quite 
the  same,  and  the  former  has  the  alternative  rendering,  "or 
terehinth,"  given  in  the  margin;  words  derived  from  the  Hebrew 
root  "el"  (  =  strong,  mighty),  and  supposed  by  many  to  be  ap- 
plied loosely  to  any  of  the  great  and  "mighty"  trees  of  ancient 
Palestine. 

The  words  "purify  yourselves  and  change  your  garments" 
have  reference  to  the  ablutions  of  their  persons  and  their 
clothing;  which  signified  the  putting  away  of  their  past  cus- 
toms and  the  preparation  of  their  hearts  to  appear  in  Bethel  be- 
fore God. 

So  they  did,  and  Jehovah  caused  to  fall  on  the  cities  round 
about  them  such  a  terror,  that  they  took  no  further  steps  to 
punish  the  sons  of  Jacob,  for  the  crime  that  they  had  com- 
mitted (comp.  ch.  34:30);  which  does  not  mean  that  God 
protected  vice  and  wickedness,  but  that  he  carried  forward 
his  own  plans  and  fulfilled  his  holy  covenant,  in  spite  of  the 
wickednesses  of  the  sons  of  Jacob;  and  so  he  yet  does. 

35:  6 — 8.     JACOB  in  bethel.     (1732  B.  c.) 

6  So  Jacob  came  to  Luz,  which  is  in  the  land  of  Canaan  (the 
same  is  Beth-el),  he  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him. 

7  And  he  built  there  an  altar,  and  called  the  place  El-beth-el;* 
because  there  God  was  revealed  unto  him,  when  he  fled  from  the 
face  of  his  brother. 

8  And  Deborah  Rebekah's  nurse  died,  and  she  was  buried  below 
Beth-el  under  the  oak  :  and  the  name  of  it  was  called  Allon-bacuth.i" 

*That  is.  The  God  of  Bethel.  fThat  is.  The  Oak  of  Weeping. 

The  place  was  still  called  "Luz";  its  old  name,  which  it  pre- 
served till  the  days  of  the  conquest;  when  the  Israelites  took 
it  by  assault,  and  fixed  thenceforward  its  name  as  "Bethel." 
Judg.  1:  23,  26.  As  we  have  already  observed  more  than  once, 
"the  land  of  Canaan,"  in  the  Bible,  is  always  the  country  to 
the  west  of  the  Jordan  (Josh.  22:  11 — 19),  in  which  Jacob 
had  been  ever  since  he  passed  over  from  Succoth  to  Shechem. 
There,  in  Bethel,  he  built  an  altar  to  Jehovah,  who  in  this  place 
had  revealed  himself  to  him,  when  he  went  fleeing  from  the 
face  of  Esau;  and  he  fulfilled  there  his  vows;  which  fact  is 
Implied  in  the  mention  of  the  altar  which  he  built;  on  which 
it  is  to  be  supposed  that  he  offered  very  numerous  sacrifices 
according  to  the  tenor  of  his  vow — "and  this  stone,  which  I 
have   set   up   for    a   pillar,    shall   be    God's    house;    and    of    all 


406  GENESIS 

that  thou  Shalt  give  me  I  will  surely  give  the  tenth  unto  thee." 
Ch.  28:  22.  Many  hundreds  of  victims  would  he  sacrifice  on 
that  altar,  if  he  offered  there  a  tenth  of  all  the  flocks  and  herds 
he  brought  back  with  him  from  Padan-aram,  according  to  the 
terms  of  his  vow. 

In  vr.  1  of  this  chapter,  God  said  to  Jacob:  "Go  up  to 
Bethel,  and  dwell  there";  a  word  which  signifies  a  long  residence 
rather  than  a  short  one;  and  according  to  the  common  chronol- 
ogy it  was  of  two  or  three  years'  duration.  How  long  the 
time  was  we  have  no  means  of  determining;  but  there  Deborah, 
the  nurse  of  Rebekah,  Jacob's  mother  died.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark  that  we  have  no  notice  whatever  of  the  death  of  Re- 
bekah, but  we  have  of  her  nurse  and  handmaid,  of  whom  we 
have  express  mention  that  she  accompanied  her  young  mistress 
from  Haran,  100  years  before  (ch.  24:29);  and  she  died,  not 
in  the  encampment  of  Isaac,  but  in  that  of  Jacob;  not  in 
Beersheba,  or  in  Mamre,  but  in  Bethel.  Rebekah  was  doubt- 
less already  dead,  and  it  is  probable  that  her  nurse,  not  finding 
herself  comfortable  in  the  encampment  of  Isaac  (probably  for 
the  same  reason  that  Esau  had  left  it,  and  Jacob  had  not  re- 
turned to  it),  she  transferred  herself  to  the  encampment  of 
Jacob  when  he  came  back  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  in  order  to 
be  near  to  the  favorite  son  of  her  mistress.  There  it  seema 
that  she  was  very  highly  esteemed;  for  the  tree  beneath  whose 
shade  they  buried  her,  was  called  "The  Oak  of  Weeping,"  on 
account  of  the  lamentation  they  made  over  her.  Comp.  ch. 
50:  11. 

35:  9 — 15.  GOD  AGAIN  APPEARS  TO  JACOB,  AND  CONFIRMS  TO  HIM 
ALL  THE  PROMISES  AND  BLESSINGS  PREVIOUSLY  GIVEN.  (1732  tO 
1729  B.  C.) 

9  And  God  appeared  unto  Jacob  again,  when  he  came  from 
Paddan-aram,  and  blessed  him. 

10  And  God  said  unto  him,  Thy  name  is  Jacob :  thy  name  shall 
not  be  called  any  more  Jacob,  but  Israel  shall  be  thy  name:  and 
he  called  his  name  Israel. 

11  And  God  said  unto  him,  I  am  God  Almighty :  be  fruitful  and 
multiply ;  a  nation  and  a  company  of  nations  shall  be  of  thee,  and 
kings  shall  come  out  of  thy  loins ; 

12  and  the  land  which  I  gave  unto  Abraham  and  Isaac,  to  thee  I 
will  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee  will  I  give  the  land. 

13  And  God  went  up  from  him  in  the  place  where  he  spake  with 
him. 

14  And  Jacob  set  up  a  pillar  in  the  place  where  he  spake  with 
him,  a  pillar  of  stone:  and  he  poured  out  a  drink-offering  thereon, 
and  poured  oil  thereon. 

15  And  Jacob  called  the  name  of  the  place  where  God  spake  with 
him,    Beth-el. 


CHAPTER  35:  16—20  407 

Notable  was  this  appearing  of  God,  visible  and  palpable; 
for  verse  13  informs  us  that  God  spake  to  him  in  a  certain 
determinate  spot,  and  from  that  very  place  he  went  up,  on  de- 
parting from  him;  and  vr.  14  tells  us  that  Jacob  (who  was 
distinguished  for  the  pillars,  or  monuments  of  commemora- 
tion, which  he  erected),  set  up  a  pillar  to  mark  this  particular 
spot,  and  poured  upon  it  oil  and  libations  of  wine,  and  he  again 
named  it  Bethel=House  of  God.  We  have  already  said  (on  ch. 
28:  18,  19)  that  "House  of  God"  did  not  signify  any  material 
edifice;  for  although  the  place  was  always  esteemed  sacred, 
we  do  not  read  that  any  altar  or  sanctuary  was  erected  there, 
till  Jeroboam  I.  consecrated  it  to  the  worship  of  his  golden 
calves.  1  Kings  12:  29,  31;  Amos  7:  12,  13.  And  yet  there 
are  several  references  to  "Bethel,"  particularly  in  the  book  of 
Judges — a  period  of  confusion  and  disorder,  both  in  political 
and  religious  matters — which  are  extremely  diflicult  to  explain 
without  supposing  that  there  was  some  kind  of  sanctuary  there 
(see  Judg.  20:18,  26;  21:2);  unless  "Beth-el"  in  these  places 
be  translated  "House  of  God,"  as  is  found  in  the  common 
English  Version  and  the  Spanish  Reina-Valera.  Not  "Beth-el," 
however,  but  "Beth-haelohim"  is  the  Hebrew  of  invariable 
use  for  "the  House  of  God";  unless  these  two  passages  be  an 
exception. 

35:  16 — 20.     the  death  of  rachel.     (1729  b.  c.) 

16  And  they  journeyed  from  Beth-el :  and  there  was  still  some 
distance  to  come  to  Ephrath :  and  Rachel  travailed,  and  she  had 
hard    labor. 

17  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  she  was  in  hard  labor,  that  the 
midwife  said  unto  her,  Fear  not ;  for  now  thou  shalt  have  another 
son. 

18  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  her  soul  was  departing  (for  she 
died),  that  she  called  his  name  Ben-oni:*  but  his  father  called  him 
Benjamin.! 

19  And  Rachel  died,  and  was  buried  in  the  way  to  Ephrath  (the 
same    is    Beth-lehem), 

20  And  Jacob  set  up  a  pillar  upon  her  grave;  the  same  is  the 
Pillar  of  Rachel's  grave  unto  this  day. 

*That  is.  The  son  of  my  sorrow.       ^That  is.  The  son  of  the  right  hand. 

After  dwelling  some  years,  as  we  suppose,  in  Bethel,  Jacob 
broke  up  camp,  traveling  toward  the  south.  Bethel  was  situated 
12  miles  to  the  north  of  Jerusalem,  and  Bethlehem  6  miles  to 
the  south; — 18  miles  of  tragic  interest  for  Jacob  and  his  be- 
loved Rachel.  It  seems  strange  that  after  so  long  a  residence 
in  Bethel,  Jacob  should  depart  for  the  south  at  a  time  so  critical 
for  his  wife;  but  so  it  was,  and  it  may  well  have  been  that  this 
lack  of  foresight  contributed  in  part  to  so  distressing  a  death. 
Thus  it  is  that  we  walk  as  blind  men  in  this  life,  and  many 


408  GENESIS 

are  those  of  us  who  have  to  deplore  too  late  some  mistake,  or 
want  of  foresight,  the  consequences  of  which  have  been  ir- 
reparable. "Ephrath"  or  "Ephratah"  seems  to  have  been  the 
old  name  of  Bethlehem,  which  once  bears  the  two  names  to- 
gether,— "Bethlehem  Ephratah."  Mic.  5:  2.  Near  to  that  place, 
on  the  way  there,  and  lacking  but  a  little  to  arrive,  Rachel  gave 
birth  to  a  son,  and  so  hard  was  her  labor,  that  in  giving  to 
her  husband  her  second  son,  she  herself  gave  up  her  life.  Be- 
fore she  died  she  named  the  new-born  one  "Ben-oni"  (—Son 
of  my  sorrow) ;  a  name  which  his  father  could  not  endure; 
and  so  he  named  him  "Benjamin":=Son  of  the  right  hand.  With 
good  cause,  Jacob,  although  his  heart  was  lacerated  with  grief, 
would  not  consent  that  the  child  should  bear  a  name  of  sadness 
such  as  might  influence  his  character  and  destiny;  and  instead 
of  that  name  of  anguish,  he  gave  him  another  of  joy;  although 
for  himself  the  birth  of  the  child  was  the  burial  of  the  hopes  and 
the  joy  of  his  life. 

This  is  the  first  notice  we  have  in  the  Bible  of  the  extreme 
form  of  that  curse  which  fell  on  the  woman  in  the  day  that 
she  ate  the  forbidden  fruit  (ch.  3:16);  but  many  (alas,  how 
many!)  are  those  who  have  given  up  their  life  on  giving  being 
to  their  "Ben-oni,"  or  have  had  them  buried  with  them  in 
their  own  grave!  Another  new  pillar,  or  funereal  monument 
Jacob  raised  up  to  mark  the  spot  where  he  laid  to  rest  the 
mortal  remains  of  that  beautiful  woman  who  had  been  the 
mistress  of  his  life,  and  whose  sorrowful  death  may  well  have 
imparted  to  him  that  air  of  sadness  which  thenceforward  char- 
acterizes the  life  of  this  patriarch,  to  whose  lot  a  super- 
abundance of  evils  had  been  appointed:  "Few  and  evil  have 
the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life  been!"  Ch.  47:  9.  Until  the  days 
of  Moses,  and  until  the  times  of  Samuel  and  Saul  (1  Sam.  10:  2) 
did  that  monument  of  mortal  anguish  remain  there;  and  it 
appeals  so  deeply  to  the  most  sacred  feelings  of  the  heart,  that 
the  Mohammedans  still  mark  the  site  with  a  monument  of 
solid  masonry,  such  as  will  endure  until  the  trumpet  of  the 
Archangel  awakens  this  mother  of  Israel,  in  the  last  day. 

35:  21,  22.     moee  calamities  fob  jacob.      (1729  b.  c.) 

21  And  Israel  journeyed,  and  spread  his  tent  beyond  the  tower  Of 
Eder. 

22  And  it  came  to  pass,  while  Israel  dwelt  in  that  land,  that 
Reuben  went  and  lay  with  Bilhah  bis  father's  concubine :  and  Israel 
heard  of  it. 

From  Bethlehem  it  was  but  a  short  distance  to  Mamre  or 
Hebron — some  15   miles.     But  in  this  brief  interval  Jacob  had 


CHAPTER  35:  23— 2G  409 

occasion  to  encamp  "beyond  the  tower  of  Eder"  (="Tower  of 
the  flock"); — the  first  tower  of  which  we  have  any  mention 
in  the  Bible;  which  Jerome,  in  the  4th  century  of  the  Christian 
Era,  located  about  1000  paces  from  Bethlehem; — an  opinion 
which  we  need  not  accept. 

"And  while  he  dwelt  in  that  country,"  so  near  to  his  father's 
home,  his  eldest  son,  Reuben,  defiled  the  bed  of  his  father;  a 
horrible  crime,  in  which  the  first-born  son  and  the  concubine 
of  Jacob,  the  hand-maid  of  Rachel,  took  part.  The  death  of 
his  beloved  Rachel  was  a  distress  not  so  hard  to  bear  as  this 
act  of  incest,  on  which  the  Bible  makes  this  single  comment, 
"And  Israel  heard  of  it;"  although  the  Hebrew  text  indicates 
the  fact  with  a  blank,  or  hiatus;  as  if  it  were  better  to  meditate 
on  the  case  than  to  speak  of  it.  It  does  not  appear  that  Reuben 
was  punished  for  this  sin,  which  afterwards,  by  the  law  of 
Moses  was  to  be  punished  by  the  death  of  both  parties,  (Lev. 
20:  11);  but  on  account  of  it  Reuben  lost  his  birthright;  and  in 
the  blessing  of  his  sons  at  the  time  of  his  death,  Jacob  spoke 
thus  of  him: 

"Reuben,   thou   art  my  first-born, 

my  might,  and  the  beginning  of  my  strength; 

the    pre-eminence    of    dignity,    and    the    pre-eminence    of 

power! 
Boiling  over  as  water,   thou   shalt  not  have  the  pre-emi- 
nence; 
because  thou  wen  test  up  to  thy  father's  bed; 
then  defiledst  thou  it.     He  went  up  to  my  couch!" 

Ch.  49:  3,  4. 
The  words   "then   defiledst  thou    (it)"  may  with   equal   pro- 
priety be  translated  "then  thou  madest  (thyself)  vile";  and  one 
sense  is  as  good  and  as  suitable  as  the  other. 

35:  23 — 26.    the  entibe  list  of  the  sons  of  jacob. 

Now  the  sons  of  Jacob  were  twelve : 

23  the  sons  of  Leah ;  Reuben,  Jacob's  first-born,  and  Simeon, 
and  Levi,  and  Judah,  and  Issachar,  and  Zebulun ; 

24  the  sons  of   Rachel :   Joseph  and   Benjamin ; 

25  and  the  sons  of  Bilhah,  Rachel's  handmaid :  Dan  and 
Naphtali ; 

26  and  the  sons  of  Zilpah,  Leah's  handmaid :  Gad  and  Asher : 
these  are  the  sons  of  Jacob,  that  were  born  to  him  in  Paddan-aram. 

All  these,  with  the  exception  of  Benjamin,  were  born  in 
Padan-aram.  It  is  entirely  conformable  with  Hebrew  usage, 
speaking  of  them  as  a  whole,  to  say  they  were  born  in  Padan- 
aram,   without   making   account   of   the   exception   just   related, 


410  GENESIS 

seven  verses  before,  telling  how  Benjamin  was  born,  and  Rachel 
died  at  the  same  time,  near  to  Bethlehem.  And  it  is  a  good 
illustration  of  many  of  the  alleged  errors  and  contradictions  of 
the  Bible. 

35:  27 — 29.  jacob  at  last  comes  to  his  father  in  mamee; 
where,  thirteen  years  afterwards,  isaac  died  and  was  buried. 
(1729  to  1716  B.  c.) 

27  And  Jacob  came  unto  Isaac  his  father  to  Mamre,  to  Kiri- 
ath-arba   (the  same  is  Hebron),  where  Abraham  and  Isaac  sojourned. 

28  And   the   days  of   Isaac   were  a   hundred  and   fourscore  years. 

29  And  Isaac  gave  up  the  ghost  and  died,  and  was  gathered  unto 
his  people,  old  and  full  of  days :  and  Esau  and  Jacob  his  sons 
buried  him. 

According  to  the  common  chronology,  given  in  our  Bibles, 
Jacob  came  to  his  father  in  Mamre  ten  years  after  leaving 
Haran,  or  Padan-aram,  in  the  same  year  (1729  B.  C.)  in  which 
Joseph  was  sold  into  Egypt,  when  17  years  of  age.  But  if 
Joseph  was  six  years  old  when  his  father  left  Haran  (ch. 
30:  25;  31:  41),  and  ten  years  had  elapsed  since  that  time, 
he  must  have  lived  one  year  with  his  grandfather  Isaac,  before 
he  was  sold.  Jacob  was,  at  that  time,  105  years  old,  and  died 
in  Egypt  42  years  after,  when  147  years  old.  Isaac,  who  wao 
60  years  old  when  Esau  and  Jacob  were  born,  would  be  then 
165;  and  dying  at  180,  he  must  have  lived  15  years  after  the 
return  of  Jacob,  with  his  encampment,  to  his  father's  house; 
so  that  between  vrs.  27  and  28  of  this  paragraph  there  intervenes 
a  space  of  13  to  15  years.  It  is  important  for  the  reader  to 
bear  in  mind  how  thorny  and  difficult  is  the  chronology  of 
the  Bible;  nor  is  this  to  be  thought  strange  in  a  history  so 
extremely  abbreviated,  where  we  leap,  as  in  this  case,  fifteen 
years  in  going  from  one  verse  to  another,  without  any  notice 
given  of  the  lapse  of  time.  We  have  already  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  chronology,  which  is  so  essential  a  matter  in 
all  modern  history,  was  held  to  be  of  comparatively  little 
importance  in  the  ancient  time,  whether  in  the  Bible,  or  in  the 
classical  histories  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 

But  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  during  those  ten  years  of 
delay  on  Jacob's  part,  he  did  not  see  his  father,  either  in 
Beersheba,  where  he  left  him,  or  in  Mamre,  where  at  last 
he  found  him  (vr.  27) ;  so  that  when  it  is  said  in  this  verse 
that  "Jacob  came  unto  his  father  in  Mamre,"  what  is  intended  to 
be  said  is  that  he  then  came  with  all  his  encampment.  The  inter- 
esting fact,  on  which  we  have  already  commented  (vr.  8),  that 
Deborah,  Rebekah's  nurse,   died   in  Bethel,  in  the  encampment 


CHAPTER  35:  27—29  411 

of  Jacob,  is  proof  positive  that  before  this  she  had  removed 
there  from  the  encampment  of  Isaac;  which  shows  with  how 
much  facility,  and  more  or  less  frequency,  they  passed  from 
one  encampment  to  the  other — a  distance  of  32  miles,  at  most; 
and  this  of  itself  furnishes  us  with  sufficient  evidence  that 
Jacob  would  be  one  of  those  who  thus  passed,  not  only  to  see  his 
father,  but  for  the  purpose  of  looking  after  the  important  inter- 
ests which  he  and  Esau  had  in  common  under  his  hand.  Not- 
withstanding this,  the  fact  that  Esau  had  withdrawn  from  the 
neighborhood  of  his  aged  and  blind  father,  even  before  Jacob  had 
left  Laban,  and  that  Deborah  did  the  same  thing,  as  soon  as 
Jacob  returned  to  Canaan,  in  conjunction  with  the  circumstance 
that  Jacob  himself  delayed  ten  years  in  returning  to  his  father's 
house,  without  any  notice  of  his  meeting  with  him,  either  before 
or  after  his  arrival  at  Mamre,  gives  us  an  almost  absolute  cer- 
tainty that  something  had  happened  to  him;  and  it  is  most 
probable  that  the  poor  old  man  was  in  his  dotage,  blind  already 
for  30  years,  and  having  still  from  13  to  15  years  to  walk  in 
darkness!  Since  the  time  that  Isaac  and  Rebekah  sent  Jacob 
to  Padan-aram,  30  years  before,  when  he  himself  and  all  the 
family  believed  that  he  was  near  to  death's  door  (ch.  27:  1,  2, 
41),  we  have  no  notice  whatever  of  the  old  blind  man;  nor  any 
until  his  death,  15  years  later.  It  seems  probable  that  he  passed 
these  45  years  sickly  and  infirm,  and  perhaps  querulous,  as  well 
as  blind: — after  what  had  happened,  his  home  could  not  have 
been  a  happy  one;  and  in  his  last  25  years,  or  ever  since  Jacob 
forsook  the  house  of  Laban  to  return  home,  he  was  probably 
weak-minded,  or  in  his  dotage,  besides.  We  recall  with  pain  the 
clumsy  artifice  with  which  his  own  wife,  Rebekah,  expected  to  de- 
ceive him,  in  the  matter  of  "the  blessing,"  even  before  Jacob's 
flight  to  Padan-aram,  and  succeeded  only  too  well.  What  a  sad 
old  age  was  that  of  Isaac!  When  we  see  old  people  sickly  and 
infirm,  or  obliged  for  long  months  or  years  to  keep  their  bed, 
to  whom  (and  to  their  attendants  as  well)  life  itself  seems  a 
useless  burden,  it  will  be  convenient  for  us  to  bring  to  mind  the 
infirm  and  blind  old  man  in  Beersheba  and  Mamre. 

But  at  last  he  laid  down  his  burden:  he  died,  "and  his  sons 
Esau  and  Jacob  buried  him."  So  the  reconciliation  of  the  two 
brothers  must  have  been  complete  and  permanent;  thanks  to  the 
blessing  with  which  the  Angel  blessed  Jacob  on  that  memorable 
night  in  Penuel.  Ch.  32:  29.  Ch.  36:  6—8  seems  to  give  us  to 
understand  that  either  before  the  death  of  his  father,  or  after- 
wards (or  perhaps  both  the  one  and  the  other),  Esau  and  Jacob 
lived  together  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  taking  joint  care  of  their 


412  GENESIS 

great  cattle  interests;  that  is  to  say,  of  their  own  individually, 
increased  by  those  that  had  been  in  the  care  of  their  father;  and 
that  after  this,  they  separated  in  peace  and  harmony,  Esau  re- 
turning again  to  the  mountain  country  of  Seir,  to  the  south  and 
S.  E.  of  the  Salt  or  Dead  Sea,  and  Jacob  remaining  in  the  land 
of  Canaan;  the  vast  multitude  of  their  cattle  not  permitting  them 
to  live  longer  together. 

We  have  already  observed,  with  respect  to  the  death  of  Abra- 
ham (see  ch.  25:  8  p.  296),  that  the  words  "he  gave  up  the  ghost, 
and  died,  and  was  gathered  to  his  peoples"  are  an  indubitable 
indication  of  the  popular  belief  in  the  continued  existence  of  men 
after  they  were  dead.  It  says  nothing  of  their  individual  condi- 
tion, for  the  same  phrase,  or  others  to  the  same  purpose,  are  used 
indifferently  of  the  good  and  the  bad;  but  it  does  reveal  the  popu- 
lar belief  that  death  did  not  interrupt  their  personal  existence. 
It  is  equivalent  to  "he  breathed  his  last  breath,  and  (conse- 
quently) he  died,  and  something  more";  and  this  something  more 
is,  that  after  he  was  dead  he  was  gathered  to  the  company  of  his 
peoples";  a  singular  phrase,  and  hard  to  explain;  but  in  spite  of 
this,  we  feel  its  force.  The  corresponding  phrase,  "gathered  to 
their  fathers,"  seems  to  represent  the  popular  idea  that  the 
fathers,  having  finished  their  course,  waited  yonder  the  coming 
of  their  children  also,  who  when  they  died  were  gathered  to  the 
congregation  of  the  departed.  Of  the  brute  animals  it  would  be 
an  absurdity  to  say  that  "they  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  died,  and 
were  gathered  to  their  fathers."  With  this  simple  demonstration 
we  refute  the  allegation  of  some  infidels  and  semi-infidels  that 
the  books  of  Moses  bear  no  testimony  whatever  to  a  future  state 
of  existence.  Compare  the  exclamation  of  the  wicked  Balaam,  in 
Num.  23:  10:  "Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my 
last  end  be  like  his!"  Pray,  what  did  Balaam  mean,  if  there  was 
no  hereafter  for  the  righteous?  The  Hebrew  means  literally, 
"let  my  hereafter  be  like  his." 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

VBS.    1 — 8.       MEMOIRS    OF   ESAU.        (1796    tO    1715    B.    C.) 

1  Now  these  are  the  generations  of  Esau    (the  same   is  Edom). 

2  Esau  took  his  wives  of  the  daughters  of  Canaan :  Adah  the 
daughter  of  Elon  the  Hittite,  and  Oholibamah  the  daughter  of 
Anah,  the  daughter  of  Zibeon   the   Hivite, 

3  and   Basemath   Ishmnel's   daughter,   sister   of   Nebaioth. 

4  And  Adah  bare  to  Esau  Eliphaz ;  and  Basemath  bare  Reuel ; 


CHAPTER  36:  1—8  413 

5  and  Oholibatnah  bare  Jeush,  and  Jalam,  and  Korah :  these 
are  the  sons  of  Esau,  that  were  born  unto  him  in  the  land  of 
Canaan. 

6  And  Esau  took  his  wives,  and  his  sons,  and  his  daughters,  and 
all  the  souls  of  his  house,  and  his  cattle,  and  all  his  beasts,  and  all 
his  possessions,  which  he  had  gathered  in  the  land  of  Canaan ;  and 
went  into  a  land  away  from  his  brother  Jacob. 

7  For  their  substance  was  too  great  for  them  to  dwell  together ; 
and  the  land  of  their  sojournings  could  not  bear  them  because  of 
their  cattle. 

8  And  Esau  dwelt  in  mount  Seir :   Esau  is  Edom, 

The  natural  relations  which  existed  between  Jacob  and  Esau, 
and  the  enmity  which  until  the  end — "a  perpetual  enmity,"  Ezek. 
35:  5 —  subsisted  between  the  Edomites  and  the  people  of  Israel, 
Beem  to  have  furnished  the  motive  for  the  introduction  of  these 
memoirs  of  Esau  here. 

In  eh.  26:  34,  the  two  first  wives  of  Esau  are  called  "Hittites," 
here  we  are  told  that  they  were  "of  the  daughters  of  Canaan," 
and  in  vr.  3  we  are  particularly  told  that  the  second  one  was 
"the  daughter  of  Zibeon  the  Hivite";  and  farther  on  we  are  told 
that  this  Zibeon  (because  it  could  not  be  any  other),  was  "the 
son  of  Seir  the  Horite."  Vr.  20.  This  example  is  very  interest- 
ing, because  it  manifests  how  amid  that  mixture  of  races  which 
occupied  so  reduced  a  territory,  where  in  the  days  of  Joshua  there 
were  from  seven  to  ten  "nations,"  one  could  at  the  same  time 
be  a  Hittite,  a  Hivite,  a  Horite  and  a  Canaanite.  It  is  important 
to  keep  this  fact  in  mind.  In  chapter  28:  1  those  Hittite  women 
are  in  fact  called  Canaanites — "daughters  of  Canaan."  An- 
other circumstance  of  still  greater  difficulty  is  found  in  the  fact 
that  the  names  of  those  two  wives  of  Esau,  and  even  of  the  third, 
the  daughter  of  Ishmael,  whom  Esau  married  many  years  later, 
are  different  from  those  we  find  in  ch.  26:  34  and  28:  9.  The  diffi- 
culty is  more  apparent  than  real;  for  it  is  a  well  recognized  fact 
that  in  Bible  times  the  same  person  frequently  bore  several  dif- 
ferent names.  The  author  of  the  first  Gospel  is  called  "Levi"  by 
Mark  and  Luke,  and  "Matthew"  by  himself  (Mark  2:  14;  Luke 
5:  27;  Matt.  9:  9);  and  Judas,  the  brother  of  James,  is  likewise 
called  "Lebbeus"  and  "Thaddeus."  And  the  wife  of  Abraham 
has  given  us  enough  to  do,  as  we  have  seen,  with  one  of  the  three 
names  which  she  bore — "Iscah,"  "Sarai,"  and  "Sarah."  See  com- 
ments on  ch.  11:  29. 

Comparing  vrs.  2  and  14  with  vrs.  18,  24,  25,  29,  it  appears  evi- 
dent that  "Anah,  the  daughter  of  Zibeon  the  Hivite"  is  an  error 
of  the  copyist,  and  it  ought  to  be  "son"  (and  so  some  ancient  au- 
thorities have  it) ;  for  the  said  Anah  is  evidently  a  man  and  not 
a  woman.     See  comment  on  vrs.  29  and  30. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  Esau  did  not  have  by  his  three  wives 


414  GENESIS 

more  than  five  sons;  a  paucity  which  we  observe  not  only  in  him 
but  in  many  others  besides,  and  which  manifests  that  the  ancients 
were  not  as  prolific  as  we  commonly  suppose.  It  is  nevertheless 
to  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  was  not  the  custom  of  the  ancient 
Hebrews  to  mention  the  daughters  in  the  list  of  sons;  for  it  is 
said  in  vr.  6  that  "Esau  took  his  wives,  and  his  sons,  and  his 
daughters  (of  whom  no  mention  whatever  had  been  made),  and 
went  to  another  land."  Esau  therefore  took  his  three  wives  and 
his  five  sons,  with  his  daughters  of  indeterminate  number,  and 
went  into  another  country  (which  was  "the  land  of  Seir"  to  the 
south  and  S.  E.  of  the  Salt  (or  Dead)  Sea,  on  account  of  his 
brother  Jacob;  with  entire  omission  of  his  residence  there  be- 
fore the  return  of  Jacob  from  Padan-aram  (ch.  32:  3)  and  his 
second  residence  in  Canaan,  where  all  his  children  were  born. 
Vr.  5.  The  mention  of  the  immediate  motive  for  his  withdraw- 
ing to  the  mountain  country  of  Seir,  excludes  the  idea  that  this 
withdrawal  took  place  previous  to  the  return  of  Jacob;  and  con- 
firms the  idea  that,  as  is  frequent  in  the  Scriptures,  his  two 
goings  to  Seir  are  treated  of  compendiously  as  one,  in  order  to 
economize  time  and  space. 

Four  times  it  is  repeated  in  different  forms  in  this  chapter  that 
"Esau  is  Edom";  a  circumstance  which  for  some  cause  or  other 
is  repeated  to  us  from  the  time  of  his  birth.  Ch.  25:  25,  30.  The 
names  "Esau"  and  "Edom"  both  of  them  signify  "red,"  the 
which  Esau,  or  Edom,  was  "the  father  of  the  Edomites"  (Heft. 
Edom). 

36:  9 — 14.      THE   NAMES    OF   THE    SONS   OF   ESAU    ARE   EEPEATED,    AND 
.       THOSE   OF   HIS   GRANDSONS,   BORN   IN    SEIR,    ALL   OF   WHOM    CAME   TO 
BE  HEADS  OF  TRIBES,  OR  CLANS. 

9  And  these  are  the  generations  of  Esau  the  father  of  the  Edom- 
ites in  mount  Seir : 

10  these  are  the  names  of  Esau's  sons :  Eliphaz  the  son  of  Adah 
the  wife  of  Esau,  Reuel  the  son  of  Basemath  the  wife  of  Esau. 

11  And  the  sons  of  Eliphaz  were  Teman,  Omar,  Zepho,  and 
Gatam,  and  Kenaz. 

12  And  Timma  was  concubine  to  Eliphaz  Esau's  son ;  and  she 
bare   to   Eliphaz  Amalek :   these  are  the  sons  of  Adah,   Esau's  wife. 

13  And  these  are  the  sons  of  Reuel :  Nahath,  and  Zerah,  Sham- 
mah,   and   Mizzah :    these   were   the   sons   of   Basemath,   Esau's   wife. 

14  And  these  were  the  sons  of  Oholibamah  the  daughter  of 
Anah,  the  daughter  of  Zibeon,  Esau's  wife:  and  she  bare  to  Esau 
Jeush,  and  Jalam,  and  Korah. 

Eliphaz  the  first-born  of  Esau  had  five  sons  by  his  wife,  and  one 
by  his  concubine — the  famous  Amalek;  so  that  the  mention  of 
"the  country  of  the  Amalekites"  previously  to  this,  in  ch.  14:  7, 
refers  to  the  territory  which  they  at  a  later  date  had  in  possession. 


CHAPTER  36:  15—19  415 

Reuel,  his  second,  had  four  sons,  grandsons  of  Esau  like  the  six 
just  named,  knd  heads  of  clans  or  tribes  in  Edom.  As  we  have 
already  seen  (ch.  28:  G — 9),  Esau  married  a  daughter  of  Ish- 
mael,  many  years  after  his  marriages  with  his  other  two 
wives;  so  that  the  three  sons  that  he  had  by  her  came  to  be 
heads  of  clans  or  tribes,  together  with  his  grandsons,  descended 
from  those  first  two  Hittite  wives;  and  so  it  is  probable  that 
those  thirteen  chieftains  were  more  or  less  of  the  same  age; 
ten  grandchildren  of  Esau,  and  three  sons  of  his  own  that  were 
born  of  his  younger  wife. 

36:  15 — 19.      THE   CHIEFS    OF   THE   HOUSE   OF   ESAU. 

15  These  are  the  chiefs  of  the  sons  of  Esau :  the  sons  of  Eliphaz 
the  first-born  of  Esau :  chief  Teman,  chief  Omar,  chief  Zepho,  chief 
Kenaz, 

16  chief  Korah,  chief  Gatam,  chief  Amalek :  these  are  the 
chiefs  that  came  of  Eliphaz  in  the  land  of  Edom;  these  are  the  sons 
of    Adah. 

17  And  these  are  the  sons  of  Reuel,  Esau's  son :  chief  Nahath, 
chief  Zerah,  chief  Shammah,  chief  Mizzah  :  these  are  the  chiefs  that 
came  of  Reuel  in  the  land  of  Edom ;  these  are  the  sons  of  Base- 
math,  Esau's  wife. 

IS  And  these  are  the  sons  of  Oholibamah,*  Esau's  wife :  chief 
Jeush,  chief  Jalam,  chief  Korah  :  these  are  the  chiefs  that  came  of 
Oholibamah  the  daughter  of  Anah,  Esau's  wife. 

10  These  are  the  sons  of  Esau,  aud  these  are  their  chiefs :  the 
same  is  Edom. 

A.  V.  and  M.  8.  V.,  Aholiljamah. 

The  Six  sons  of  Eliphaz  already  mentioned  came  to  be  the 
heads  of  tribes,  clans  or  chieftaincies,  to  whom  in  vr.  16  is 
added  another,  one  Korah,  not  mentioned  in  the  previous  list, 
and  uncle  of  the  Korah  (son  of  Aholibamah)  mentioned  in  vr. 
18;  making  fourteen  chieftains  descended  from  Esau,  who  came 
to  be  heads  of  clans  or  tribes  in  the  land  of  Edom.  Certainly 
very  great  was  the  ascendency  which  the  valiant  and  worldly 
Esau  had  acquired  in  the  land  of  his  adoption,  for  his  sons, 
of  the  first  and  second  generations,  to  become  chiefs*  or  princes 
in  that  land,  occupied  still  by  the  descendants  of  Seir  the 
Horite.  It  is  clear  from  Deut.  2:  22  that  this  was  not  a 
pacific  conquest,  but  was  at  least  in  part  effected  by  force  of 
arms;  and  nevertheless  the  memoirs  of  Seir  the  Horite,  which 
we  have  in  vrs.  20 — 30,  furnish  us  with  data  for  believing 
that  relations  of  friendship  and  kinship  subsisted  between  Esau 
and  at  least  a  part  of  the  Horites;  and  that  at  last  the  two 
peoples  were  united  so  as  to  become  one  only,  called  the  chil- 

*The  translation  "dukes"  which  figures  so  largely  and  so  inopportunely 
In  the  Reina-Valera,  and  in  the  A.  V.  &  R.  "V.  of  this  chapter,  has  been 
wisely  changed  by  the  American  revisers  into  "chiefs,"  as  is  seen  in  the 
Scripture  text. — Tr. 


416  GENESIS 

dren  of  Edom;    although  their  land  continued  to  be  called  the 
land,  or  mountain  country  of  Seir. 

36:  20 — 28.     memoirs  of  seir,  the  predecessor  of  esau  in  the 
land  of  edom. 

20  These  are  the  sons  of  Seir  the  Horite,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
land :  Lotan  and  Shobal  and  Zibeon  and  Anah, 

21  and  Dishon  and  Ezer  and  Dishan :  these  are  the  chiefs  that 
came  of  the  Horites,  the  children  of  Seir  in  tlie  land  of  Edom. 

22  And  the  children  of  Lotan  were  Hori  and  Heman ;  and  Lotan's 
Bister   was   Tirana. 

23  And  these  are  the  children  of  Shobal :  Alvan  and  Manahath 
and  Ebal,   Shepho  and  Onam. 

24  And  these  are  the  children  of  Zibeon :  Aiah  and  Anah ;  this 
is  Anah  who  found  the  hot  springs*  in  the  wilderness,  as  he  fed  the 
asses  of  Zibeon  his  father. 

25  And  these  are  the  children  of  Anah:  Dishon  and  Oholibamah 
the  daughter  of  Anah. 

26  And  these  are  the  children  of  Dishon :  Hemdan  and  Eshban 
and  Ithran  and  Cheran. 

27  These  are  the  children  of  Ezer:  Bilhan  and  Zaavan  and 
Akan. 

28  These  are  the  children  of  Disdain  :  Uz  and  Aran. 

*A.  r.  and  M.  S.  V.,  mules. 

Of  this  notable  man  who  gave  name  to  the  country  of  Edom, 
a  name  which  it  never  lost,  we  only  know  that  he  was  the 
father  of  the  Horites,  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  that  country, 
even  before  the  calling  of  Abraham.  See  ch.  14:  6.  The  name 
"Horite"  seems  to  indicate  that  they  were  cave-dwellers  {Heb. 
hor  =  cave,  pi.  horim);  of  which  caves  there  still  remain  a 
vast  number  cut  in  the  cliffs  of  sand-stone,  and  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Edom;  and  notably  the  famous  city  of  "Sela,"  "Selah" 
or  "Petra."  2  Kings  14:  7;  Obad.  vrs.  2,  3.  The  relations  of 
intimate  kinship  that  were  formed  between  Esau  and  some  of 
the  family  of  Seir,  by  his  marriage  with  Aholibamah,  great- 
granddaughter  of  Seir,  and  by  means  of  Timna,  who  was  the 
concubine  of  Eliphaz,  and  mother  of  Amalek  (vr.  12),  seem 
to  have  been  the  cause  of  the  insertion  of  these  memoirs  here, 
as  being  part  of  the  family  history  of  Esau. 

Among  the  sons  of  Dishan  (vr.  28),  the  seventh  son  of  Seir, 
we  meet  with  Uz  as  his  first-born;  and  it  would  seem  that  he 
is  the  same  who  gave  name  to  "the  land  of  Uz,"  which  was  the 
native  country  of  the  patriarch  Job  (Job  1:  1).  This  seems 
more  probable  than  to  refer  the  name  to  Uz  the  son  of  Aram 
(Gen.  10:  23)  the  only  other  of  the  name,  who  was  a  Syrian; 
while  Job  was  an  Arabian,  and  his  friend  Eliphaz  the  Tem- 
anite  was  of  "the  country  of  the  Temanites,"  mentioned  in 
vr.  34. 

There  has  been  much  dispute  with  regard  to  the  discovery, 


CHAPTER  3G:  20— 2S  417 

or  the  find,  which  Anah,  the  father  of  Aholibamah,  made  in  the 
desert,  "when  he  was  feeding  the  asses  of  Zibeon  his  father" 
(vr.  24),  which  some  would  translate  "hot  springs,"  as  the 
Latin  Vulgate  has  it,  and  the  R.  V.  of  the  English  Bible,  given 
above.  The  word  occurs  but  this  once  in  the  Hebrew  Bible, 
and  hence  the  difficulty  of  determining  its  meaning.  Others 
would  understand  that  the  word  means  "giants."  But  "hot 
springs"  were  not  a  thing  so  extraordinary  in  a  volcanic  country, 
like  that  around  the  Dead  Sea,  that  it  should  deserve  such 
mention;  nor  were  the  "giants"  either,  where  there  had  formerly 
been  several  races  of  gigantic  stature.  Deut.  2:  10 — 12  and 
20:  23.  For  my  own  part,  I  believe  that  the  ordinary  opinion 
of  the  Jewish  commentators  is  the  correct  one,  and  that  the 
Common  Version  of  the  English  Bible  and  the  Modern  Span- 
ish Version  give  the  true  sense,  translating  it  ''mules"';  al- 
though the  ordinary  Hebrew  word  for  mules  is  different.  The 
Jewish  doctors  say  that  this  Anah  (a  pagan  Horite)  discov- 
ered the  procreation  of  mules,  through  a  prurient  curiosity  to 
mix  the  different  races  of  animals — a  very  frequent  thing  among 
the  ancient  pagans,  as  the  impure  and  corrupting  stories  of 
the  Greek  and  Roman  mythologies  attest.  It  is  incorrect  to 
allege,  in  opposition  to  this  (as  does  Bush),  that  the  Heb.  word 
natsa  {=to  find)  does  not  have  the  sense  of  discover;  for  it  is 
precisely  the  word  which  Samson  used  when  he  said: 

"If  ye  had  not  plowed  with  my  heifer, 

Ye  would  not  have  foxind  out  (Heb.  "found")   my  riddle." 

Judg.  15:  18. 

The  Reina-Valera  Version,  of  the  year  1602,  says  that  he 
"invented  mules";  and  such  an  invention,  or  discovery,  was  well 
worthy  of  commemoration;  for  the  result  of  this  mixture  of  the 
ass  and  the  horse  has  been  most  useful  in  all  the  world,  and  it  is 
still  found  among  all  nations;  though  such  mixture  of  different 
animal  races  is  expressly  prohibited  in  the  Mosaic  law  (Lev. 
19:  19),  and  only  by  the  art  and  contrivance  of  men  has  the 
ass  been  depraved  so  as  to  sin  thus  against  the  instincts  of  its 
own  nature.  This  I  take  it  was  the  "invention"  of  Anah,  the 
son  of  Zibeon  the  Horite.  Mules  were  used  in  Israel  itself 
(whether  bred  there,  or  imported  from  the  nations  around),  be- 
fore horses  were  allowed  even  for  the  purposes  of  war.  2  Sam. 
13:  29;   18:  9;   1  Kings  1:  33,    Comp.  Josh.  11:  6,  9;   2  Sam.  8:  4. 


418  CJBNESIS 

36:  29,  30.    the  hoeite  chiefs,  who  preceded  those  of  the  eace 

OF    ESAU. 

29  Theso  are  the  chiefs  that  came  of  the  Horites :  chief  Lotan, 
chief    Shobal,   chief   Zibeon,    chief   Anah, 

30  chief  Dishon,  chief  Ezer,  chief  Dishan :  these  are  the  chiefs 
that  came  of  the  Horites,  according  to  their  chiefs  in  the  land  of 
Seir. 

It  is  evident  that  "Anah"  of  vr.  20  was  the  name  of  a  man 
and  not  of  a  woman,  the  uncle  of  the  Anah  of  vr.  24,  who  was 
the  father  of  Aholibamah,  the  second  wife  of  Esau;  since  in 
vr.  29  he  figures  as  a  chieftain,  just  as  Zibeon,  his  brother,  and 
he  is  clearly  to  be  distinguished  from  the  Anah  who  discovered 
the  mules,  vr.  24.  So  that  there  were  two  chieftains  of  the 
name  of  Anah,  uncle  and  nephew,  just  as  in  vrs.  16  and  18 
we  have  two  chieftains  named  "Korah,"  who  were  half  brothers. 
Since  then  it  is  evident  that  Aholibamah,  the  wife  of  Esau, 
was  the  daughter  of  one  Anah  and  the  niece  of  another;  and 
since  her  father  Anah  was  the  son  of  Zibeon,  it  seems  clearly 
impossible  that  she  should  be  at  the  same  time  daughter  of  a 
woman  named  Anah,  who  was  "daughter  of  Zibeon  the  Hivite." 
It  appears,  therefore,  certain  that  the  "Anah"  of  vrs.  2  and 
14  was  the  namfe  of  a  man  rather  than  a  woman;  and  that 
the  word  "daughter  of  Zibeon"  is  an  error  of  the  copyist,  and 
should  read  "son" — unless  we  have  recourse  to  a  supposition 
at  which  the  mind  revolts.  Rabbi  David  Kimchi,  however,  as 
quoted  by  Adam  Clarke,  makes  the  still  more  revolting  state- 
ment that  this  Anah,  so  much  addicted  to  impure  mixtures,  was 
himself  the  offspring  of  one,  being  both  the  son  and  the  brother 
of  Zibeon.  Zibeon,  so  far  as  I  can  follow  the  tangled  thread 
of  this  chapter,  is  called  a  Hivite  in  vr.  2,  and  a  Horite  in  vrs. 
20  and  29.  See  comments  on  vr.  2.  It  is  important  for  us  to 
bear  always  in  mind  the  unspeakable  abominations  that  were 
common  among  those  pagan  peoples.  See  Lev.  18:  24 — 28;  Deut. 
18:  25,  27. 

36:  31 — 39.     the  kings  who  eeigned  in  edom  before  there  were 

KINGS   of   the   children   OF   ISRAEL. 

31  And  these  are  the  kings  that  reigned  in  the  land  of  Edom, 
before  there  reigned  any  king  over  the  cliikhen  of  Israel. 

32  And  Bela  the  son  of  Beor  reigned  in  Edom ;  and  the  name 
of  his  city  was  Dinhabah. 

•i'-i  And  Bela  died,  and  Jobab  the  son  of  Zerah  of  Bozrah  reigned 
in  his  stead. 

34  And  Jobab  died,  and  Husham  of  the  land  of  the  Temanites 
reigned  in  his  stead. 

35  And  Husham  died,  and  Hadad  the  sou  of  Bedad,  who  smote 


CHAPTER  36:  31—39  419 

Midian  in  the  field  of  Moab,  reigned  in  his  stead  :   and  the  name  of 
his  city  was  Avith. 

36  And  Hadad  died,  and  Samlah  of  Masrekah  reigned  in  his 
stead. 

37  And  Samlah  died,  and  Shaul  of  Rehoboth  by  the  River  reigned 
in   his   stead. 

38  And  Shaul  died,  and  Baal-hanan  the  son  of  Achbor  reigned  in 
his  stead. 

o9  And  Baal-hanan  the  son  of  Achbor  died  and  Hadar  reigned  in 
his  stead :  and  the  name  of  his  city  was  Pau ;  and  his  wife's  name 
was  Mehetabel,  the   daughter  of  Matred,   the  daughter  of  Me-zahab. 

The  first  king  of  the  children  of  Israel  was  Saul,  who  began 
to  reign  about  350  years  after  Moses;  so  that  it  is  clear  that 
this  paragraph  was  added  by  some  copyist  or  editor,  who  lived 
several  centuries  after  Moses.  The  entire  paragraph,  with  a 
few  variations,  is  found  in  1  Chron.  1:  43 — 50;  and  some  have 
beli^'ed  that  from  there  it  was  taken  and  added  to  this  chapter. 
The  books  of  the  Chronicles  bear  evident  traces  of  having  been 
composed,  or  at  least  edited,  after  the  Babylonish  captivity; 
see  2  Chron.  36:  22  and  1  Chron.  3:  19,  where  the  list  of  the 
descendants  of  David  is  carried  several  generations  beyond 
Zerubbabel;  and  it  seems  much  more  probable  that  1  Chron.  1: 
35 — 54  was  taken  from  here,  according  as  it  stood  in  the  days 
of  Saul,  or  of  David  (or  even  later),  after  this  paragraph  had 
teen   added. 

The  last  of  the  kings  mentioned  presents  us  with  a  circum- 
stance of  some  interest,  in  the  name  of  the  grandmother  of 
his  wife,  which  was  "Me-zahab"  (—"Waters  of  gold,"  vr.  39), 
a  name  which  most  likely  was  given  her  on  account  of  the 
abundance  of  her  beautiful  golden  hair;  an  object  of  pride  for 
her,  and  of  admiration  and  envy  for  her  companions.  Such 
is  human  vanity,  and  so  it  ends!  Some  particular  reason 
there  must  have  been,  and  of  interest  to  the  first  readers  of 
the  book,  for  giving  in  this  place  the  names  of  these  three 
women;  that  being  contrary  to  ordinary  Hebrew  usage.  Esau 
likewise  had  red  hair  (ch.  25:  25)  and  David  also,  or  of  auburn 
color  (1  Sam.  16:  12);  adjectives  which  are  one  and  the  same 
in  the  Hebrew  text. 

From  this  chapter  it  is  evident  that  the  government  of  Edom, 
both  under  the  house  of  Seir  and  under  that  of  Esau,  was  by 
captaincies,  or  clans  (of  which  we  have  seven  of  the  race  of 
Seir,  and  fourteen  of  that  of  Esau),  and  that  afterwards,  with 
the  increase  of  population  and  riches,  there  arose  a  dynasty  of 
kings,  of  whom  eight  individuals  are  given  in  the  text,  as  hav- 
ing reigned  before  there  was  a  king  in  Israel.  When  Israel 
went  out  of  Egypt,  this  change  had  already  taken  place  in 
Edpm;   although  the  two  institutions  existed  together.     For  we 


420  GENESIS 

have  mention  of  the  "chiefs  (A.  V.  'dukes')  of  Edom"  in  the 
triumphal  song  of  Moses,  Ex.  15:  15;  and  in  Num.  20:  14,  we 
find  that  Moses  sent  messengers  to  the  king  of  Edom,  asking 
his  permission  for  Israel  to  pass  through  his  territory. 

36:  40 — 43.    another  and  a  different  list  of  the  chiefs  of  edom. 

40  And  these  are  the  names  of  the  chiefs  that  came  of  Esau, 
according  to  their  families,  after  their  places,  by  their  names:  chief 
Tirana,   chief  Alvah,  chief  Jetheth, 

41  chief  Oholibamah,  chief  Elah,  chief  Pinon, 

42  chief  Kenaz,   chief  Teman,  chief  Mibzar, 

43  chief  Magdiel,  chief  Iram  :  these  are  the  chiefs  of  Edom,  accord- 
ing to  their  habitations  in  the  land  of  their  possession.  This  ia 
Esau,  the  father  of  the  Edomites. 

All  this  chapter  has  its  difflculties,  which  we  do  not  know 
how  to  resolve  satisfactorily  (but  we  do  not  on  that  account 
believe  that  it  has  no  place  in  a  divinely  inspired  record) ;  and 
in  several  places  the  narrative  seems  to  be  disjointed;  so  that 
it  will  not  be  difficult  to  suppose,  that  as  vrs.  31 — 39  are  un- 
doubtedly an  addition  by  copyists  or  editors,  long  after  the  days 
of  Moses,  other  parts  also  may  be  in  the  same  case.  And 
these  last  four  verses  are  not  the  least  difficult  part  of  the 
chapter.  This  list  of  the  chiefs  of  Edom,  which  comes  in  after 
the  list  of  the  kings  of  Edom,  is  entirely  different  from  that 
given  in  vrs.  15 — 19.  Only  two  of  the  eleven  names  (Kenaz 
and  Teman),  are  identical  with  those  of  the  other  list,  which 
number  fourteen;  while  two  of  them  bear  the  names  of  women; 
Aholibamah  and  Timna;  although  like  "Anah"  and  "Anah,"  of 
the  preceding  list,  it  may  be  that  the  names  were  used  of 
both  sexes  alike.  I  suppose  that  they  are  two  different  lists, 
and  have  reference  to  different  persons  and  times;  but  I 
cannot  ascertain  any  motive  or  reason  for  introducing  them 
here.  The  chapter  ends  as  it  began,  repeating  for  the  fourth 
time  that  "Esau  is  the  father  of  Edom"  or  of  "the  Edomites." 
The  writer  must  have  had  some  special  purpose  in  view,  for 
this  repetition,  which  it  is  not  given  to  us  to  find  out. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

VBS.    1 — 4.       WE    BEGIN    AGAIN    THE    INTERRUPTED    HISTORY    OF    JACOB, 
WITH  MEMOIRS  OF  HIM   AND  OF  HIS  SON  JOSEPH.       (1729  B.  C.) 

1  And  Jacob  dwelt  in  the  land  of  his  father's  sojournings,  in  the 
land  of  Canaan. 

2  These   are   the  generations  of  Jacob.     Joseph,   being   seventpen 
years  old,   was  feeding   the   flock   with  his  brethren;   and   he  was   a 


CHAPTER  37:   1—4  421 

lad  with  the  sons  of  Bilhah,  and  with  the  sons  of  Zilpah,  his  father's 
wives  :  and  Joseph  brought  the  evil  report  of  them  unto  their  father. 

3  Now  Israel  loved  Joseph  more  than  all  his  children,  because 
he  was  the  son  of  his  old  age:  and  he  made  him  a  coat  of  many 
colors.* 

4  And  his  brethren  saw  that  their  father  loved  him  more  than 
all  his  brethren ;  and  they  hated  him,  and  could  not  speak  peaceably 
unto  him. 

*Orj  a  long  garment  with  sleeves. 

Isaac  having  died,  and  Esau  having  removed  to  the  land  of 
Seir,  Jacob  continued  to  dwell  in  the  land  of  the  sojournings  of 
his  fathers,  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  God  had  before  promised 
to  Abraham  and  his  posterity.  Verse  43  of  the  preceding 
chapter  says  that  the  children  of  Esau  dwelt  "in  the  land  of 
their  possessio7i'' ;  meanwhile  for  Jacob  and  his  descendants, 
the  same  as  for  their  fathers,  the  land  of  promise  "in  which  they 
dwelt  as  strangers,"  was  to  them  but  "the  land  of  tlieir  so- 
journings." On  this  circumstance  the  apostle  fixes  attention,  in 
Heb.  11:  9 — 16,  to  extol  the  faith  which  these  holy  patriarchs 
had  in  God,  and  the  heavenly  nature  of  their  hope;  constituting 
them  types  of  the  people  of  God,  who  still  wait  for  "the  city 
that  hath  the  foundations"  (Rev.  21:  14,  19,  etc.),  "whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God."     Heb.  11:  10. 

The  word  "generations,"  in  vr.  2,  has  undeniably  the  sense 
of  memoirs  or  family  history;  for  of  "generation"  and  "genera- 
tions" in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  nothing  whatever  is 
said.  These  memoirs  have  to  do  with  the  history  of  Joseph; 
and  there  begins  at  this  point  a  most  interesting  and  in  some 
respects  one  of  the  most  important  histories  of  the  Old  Testament. 
We  see  here  the  preliminary  steps  which  led  to  the  abandonment 
of  pastoral  life  by  the  children  of  Abraham,  their  entrance  on  a 
truly  national  life,  and  their  preparation  for  those  high  destinies 
to  which  God  had  called  them  as  his  chosen  people;  in  order 
that  they  might  be  to  him  a  "kingdom  of  priests,  a  holy  nation" 
(Ex.  19:  5,  6),  and  a  fruitful  source  of  blessing  to  the  world. 

Three  things  are  very  evident  to  us,  although  they  were  not 
BO  to  them:  1st.  That  it  would  be  morally  impossible,  there 
In  the  land  of  Canaan,  for  the  children  of  Israel  to  increase  until 
they  were  sufficiently  numerous  to  take  possession  of  the  land 
which  God  destined  for  them;  2nd.  That  even  though  the 
Canaanites  were  exterminated  and  destroyed  from  before  them 
by  pestilence  or  by  war,  a  nation  of  shepherds  did  not  possess 
the  qualifications  to  perform  that  high  mission  to  which  God 
had  called  them;  it  was  necessary  to  educate  them  for  their 
high  vocation;  3rd.  Esau  had  already  withdrawn  to  the  land 
of  Seir,  separating  himself  from  Jacob,  for  the  reason  that  there 


422  GENESIS 

was  not  room  enough  for  them  to  dwell  together,  with  their 
numerous  flocks  and  herds.  Ch.  36:  7.  It  was  therefore  neces- 
sary to  do  something  to  remedy  this  difiiculty,  which  was  always 
an  increasing  one;  otherwise,  as  there  had  been  strife  between 
the  herdsmen  of  Abraham  and  those  of  Lot,  so  there  would 
necessarily  be  between  the  Canaanites  who  were  filling  up  the 
country,  very  sparsely  peopled  in  the  days  of  Abraham  (ch.  13: 
6,  9),  and  the  children  of  Israel,  who  went  on  increasing  and 
multiplying,  as  "strangers  and  sojourners"  in  the  midst  of  them. 
This  chapter  therefore  gives  us  the  first  scene  in  that  great 
drama  of  divine  providence,  which  gave  effect  to  the  designs  o£ 
God,  with  a  view  to  fulfilling  the  promises  sworn  to  Abraham, 
and  operating  on  a  wider  scale  for  the  redemption  of  the  world, 
beginning  with  one  family  and  people  chosen  out  of  the  other 
nations. 

We  see  now  the  flocks  and  herds  of  Jacob  divided  into  different 
portions,  and  Joseph  as  the  companion  of  the  sons  of  the  servant- 
wives  of  his  father,  Bilhah  and  Zilpah;  a  clear  indication  that 
the  rivalry  which  had  existed  between  the  two  wives  of  Jacob, 
was  continued  in  their  respective  families.  Joseph  would 
naturally  prefer  to  be  with  the  sons  of  the  two  maid-servants 
rather  than  with  the  sons  of  his  aunt. 

The  language  of  vr.  2  is  singular  and  admits  of  different 
senses.  It  is  said  that  "Joseph  was  feeding  the  flock  with  his 
brethren,"  and  then  it  is  added  (according  to  the  R.  V.),  "that 
he  was  a  lad  with  the  sons  of  Bilhah,"  etc.  Others  understand 
that  the  word  "boy"  or  "lad"  is  used,  as  it  frequently  is  in 
both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments,  for  a  man-servant ;  which 
is  simply  incredible,  considering  the  preference  which  his  father 
always  gave  to  him.  The  translation  given  in  the  Modern 
Spanish  Version  ("he  as  a  boy,  was  with  the  sons  of  Bilhah," 
etc.),  is  good,  and  suggests  the  idea  that  he  was  a  mere  boy,  and 
kept  the  company  of  his  half-brothers,  the  sons  of  the  maid- 
servants of  Leah  and  Rachel. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  Joseph,  however  good  may  have  been 
his  moral  and  religious  character,  had  as  yet  all  the  inexperi- 
ence of  a  boy  bred  at  home,  and  did  not  deport  himself  with  the 
wisdom  and  tact  demanded  by  the  difficult  circumstances  in 
which  he  found  himself  placed.  Hts  four  brothers  with  whom 
he  was,  were  bad  men;  and  Joseph  reported  their  bad  conduct 
to  his  father.  It  may  be  that  it  was  his  duty  to  do  so;  but 
to  judge  by  his  lack  of  good  sense  in  the  matter  of  his  dreams, 
we  may  suppose  that  in  this  case  also,  fulfilling  the  most  dif- 
ficult part  of  his  duty,  he  did  not  proceed  with  that  degree  of 


CHAPTER  37:  1—4  423 

prudence  and  tact  which  was  to  be  desired,  but  rather  with  the 
inexperience  of  a  mere  home-bred  boy  of  seventeen  years.  It 
would  seem  that  all  his  older  brothers  were  bad  men;  and  the 
fact  that  he  was  righteous  and  they  were  wicked,  was  of  itself 
sufficient  reason  why  they  should  regard  him  with  aversion; 
but  when  to  this  he  added  the  character  of  an  informer,  they 
would  come  to  regard  him  as  a  spy  upon  their  actions,  and  his 
presence  among  them  would  become  insupportable.  To  make 
matters  worse,  Jacob  too  plainly  manifested  his  partiality  for 
the  elder  son  of  his  beloved  Rachel,  of  whom  he  was  the  living 
image  (or  at  least  the  extraordinary  beauty  of  the  mother  and 
that  of  the  son  are  represented  to  us  in  the  identical  words  in 
Hebrew,  which  occur  nowhere  else,  eh.  29:  17  and  39:  6);  and 
not  only  so,  but  he  made  him  a  robe  of  a  special  kind  which 
published  abroad  the  greater  love  and  confidence  which  his  father 
cherished  toward  him.  This  of  itself  would  have  been  sufficient, 
without  accepting  the  translation  and  interpretation  which  some 
wish  to  give  to  vr.  2,  to  the  effect  that  his  father  had  constituted 
him  the  chief,  the  "pastor"  or  "shepherd"  of  his  brethren,  on 
account  of  the  greater  confidence  that  he  had  in  him;  he  being 
but  a  mere  boy.  But  it  seems  impossible  that  the  partiality  of 
Jacob  should  reach  to  such  a  pitch  of  folly.  In  any  case,  his 
older  brethren  hated  him  all  the  more  for  the  affection  which 
his  father  manifested  towards  him;  to  such  a  degree  that  they 
could  not  speak  peaceably  with  him. 

With  regard  to  the  tunic,  coat  or  robe,  which  served  him  as 
an  insignia  of  distinction,  we  have  no  certain  knowledge.  The 
Bame  word  is  used  in  2  Sam.  13:  IS,  with  reference  to  the  robe 
of  Tamar,  the  sister  of  Absalom,  whom  Amnon  violated;  the 
writer  adding  that  it  was  a  robe  which  the  virgin  daughters  of 
the  king  were  accustomed  to  wear.  The  Greek  Version  of  the 
LXX  and  the  Latin  Vulgate  say  a  tunic  or  coat  "of  many 
colors,"  as  it  is  given  also  in  our  English  Bibles.  The  Hebrew 
text  says  a  tunic  or  coat  "of  palms  of  the  hand"  (or  "of  soles 
of  the  foot");  which  some  understand  to  mean  a  tunic  made 
of  pieces  of  cloth  of  the  size  of  the  hand;  supposed  to  be  of  dif- 
ferent colors.  Gesenius  interprets  the  phrase  (for  it  cannot  be 
translated)  as  describing  a  robe  or  garment  reaching  to  the  palms 
of  his  hands  and  the  soles  of  his  feet;  or,  in  other  words,  "a 
long  garment  with  sleeves";  as  found  in  the  note  to  the  Bible 
text;  and  this,  in  the  opinion  of  the  learned,  is  the  proper 
meaning  of  the  phrase.  It  was  a  long  robe,  different  from  the 
ordinary  dress  of  the  Orientals,  whether  men  or  women.  So  it 
was  that  when  Joseph,  dressed  like  a  prince,  appeared   in  the 


424  GENESIS 

midst  of  his  simply  clad  shepherd  brothers,  the  very  sight  of 
him  became  every  day  more  and  more  insufferable. 

37:  5 — 11.      THE  DREAMS  OF   JOSEPH.       (1729   B.   C.) 

5  And  Joseph  dreamed  a  dream,  and  he  told  it  to  his  brethren : 
and  they  hated  him  yet  the  more. 

6  And  he  said  unto  them,  Hear,  I  pray  you,  this  dream  which  1 
have  dreamed  : 

7  for,  behold,  we  were  binding  sheaves  in  the  field,  and,  lo,  my 
sheaf  arose,  and  also  stood  upright ;  and,  behold,  your  sheaves  came 
round  about,  and  made  obeisance  to  my  sheaf. 

8  And  his  brethren  said  to  him,  Shalt  thou  indeed  reign  over  us? 
or  shalt  thou  indeed  have  dominion  over  us?  And  they  hated  him 
yet  the  more  for  his  dreams,  and  for  his  words. 

9  And  he  dreamed  yet  another  dream,  and  told  it  to  his  brethren, 
and  said,  Behold,  I  have  dreamed  yet  a  dream  ;  and,  behold,  the  sun 
and  the  moon  and  eleven  stars  made  obeisance  to  me. 

10  And  he  told  it  to  his  father,  and  to  his  brethren;  and  his 
father  rebuked  him,  and  said  unto  him.  What  is  this  dream  that  thou 
hast  dreamed?  Shall  I  and  thy  mother  and  thy  brethren  indeed  come 
to  bow  down  ourselves  to  thee  to  the  earth? 

11  And  his  brethren  envied  him  ;  but  his  father  Ijept  the  saying  in 
mind. 

Although  the  imprudence  of  an  inexperienced  boy  (who  as 
yet  knew  nothing  of  the  world)  and  the  culpably  manifested 
partiality  of  his  father  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  enmity 
which  his  brothers  bore  to  him,  the  two  combined  form  one  of  the 
most  important  elements  in  the  plans  of  divine  Providence;  and 
this  without  at  all  excusing  or  palliating  their  wickedness.  The 
Psalmist  says: 

"He  sent  a  man  before  them; 

Joseph  was  sold  for  a  servant"  (Ps.  105:17); 

and  this  was  the  means  which  God  employed  to  send  that  man 
before  them,  in  order  to  prepare  them  a  place  in  Egypt;  and  a 
privileged  place,  such  as  corresponded  with  the  purpose  which  he 
had  in  view  in  sending  Jacob  and  his  sons  into  Egypt. 

God  still  makes  use  of  dreams,  of  strong  impressions,  and  of 
presentiments,  in  order  to  influence  the  conduct  of  men;  of 
which  we  have  all  heard  of  numerous  examples;  but  these  are 
in  no  sense  revelations  of  the  will  of  God,  and  one  would  be 
foolish  indeed  who  allowed  himself  to  be  governed  by  dreams 
and  presentiments  of  this  kind.  But  the  case  was  different  in  the 
ages  in  which  men  had  no  written  revelation  of  the  will  of  God, 
and  in  which  Jehovah  communicated  his  will  to  men  by  different 
kinds  of  revelations  (Heb.  1:  1),  one  of  which  was  dreams.  For 
important  reasons,  then,  God  prepared  Joseph  for  the  terrible 
trials  that  awaited  him,  by  means  of  two  dreams,  or  rather  a 
double    dream,    which    gave   him    a    strong   presentiment   of   his 


CHAPTER  37:  12—17  425 

coming  elevation  and  greatness;  Jacob  also  received  through 
them  a  strength  he  greatly  needed  for  the  twenty  years  of 
deep  suffering  which  he  was  called  to  endure,  before  he  found 
out  what  had  become  of  his  lost  son.  We  must  confess  that 
Joseph  did  not  deport  himself  prudently  in  this  matter,  when  he 
related  his  dreams  to  his  brothers,  well  knowing  how  they 
regarded  him;  and  his  relating  the  two  dreams  successively, 
when  he  had  seen  how  deeply  they  were  offended  by  the  first, 
reveals  a  lack  of  good  sense  and  of  tact  in  a  lad  of  seventeen 
years,  which  gave  no  great  promise  for  the  future  governor 
of  Egypt.  But  not  only  to  his  brothers  did  he  tell  his  dreams; 
he  told  his  father  also  the  second  dream;  and  his  father  re- 
buked him,  for  he  clearly  saw  the  direction  in  which  his  dreams 
were  pointing.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  his  father,  in  this 
reproof,  after  the  death  of  Rachel,  speaks  of  Leah  as  "thy 
mother."  Vr.  10.  "His  brothers  envied  him  and  hated  him  the 
more,  on  account  of  his  dreams  and  his  words";  for  it  seems 
that  he  talked  about  them  in  an  unbecoming  manner;  but  his 
father  kept  his  words  in  mind,  and  meditated  on  the  incident. 
There  was  in  it  a  something,  and  particularly  in  the  double  form 
of  his  dream,  which  fixed  the  old  man's  attention;  as  he  ques- 
tioned with  himself  whether  or  not  it  might  have  some  practical 
significance  with  reference  to  his  favorite  son. 

37:  12 — 17.    JOSEPH  is  sent  from:  herod  to  shechem,  to  bring 

HIS    FATHER   SOME   WORD   FROM    HIS    BRETHREN.       (1729    B.    C.) 

12  And  his  brethren  went  to  feed  their  father's  flock  in  She- 
chem. 

13  And  Israel  said  unto  Joseph,  Are  not  thy  brethren  feeding  the 
flock  in  Shechem?  come,  and  I  will  send  thee  unto  them.  And  he 
said  to  him,  Here  am  I. 

14  And  he  said  to  Him,  Go  now,  see  whether  it  is  well  with  thy 
brethren,  and  well  with  the  flock :  and  bring  me  word  again.  So 
he  sent  him  out   of   the  vale  of  Hebron,   and   he   came   to   Shechem. 

1.5  And  a  certain  man  found  him,  and,  behold,  he  was  wandering 
m  the  field:  and  the  man  found  him,  saying,  What  seekest  thou? 

16  And  he  said.  I  am  seeliing  my  brethren  :  tell  me,  I  pray  thee, 
where  they  are  feeding  the  flock. 

17  And  the  man  said,  They  are  departed  hence ;  for  I  heard  them 
say.  Let  us  go  to  Dothan.  And  Joseph  went  after  his  brethren,  and 
found  them  in  Dothan. 

We  know  from  vr.  14  that  at  this  time  Jacob  was  still  In 
Mamre,  or  Hebron,  where  his  father  Isaac  died;  for  Mamre  and 
Hebron  are  used  in  this  history  as  equivalent  terms  (ch.  23:  19), 
the  oak-grove  of  Mamre  being  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  that  city.  The  sons  of  Jacob  had  gone  with  their  father's 
flocks  to  Shechem;  the  scene  of  the  terrible  reprisals  which  they 
had  there  taken  for  the  dishonor   done  to  their   sister  Dinah. 


426  GENESIS 

His  father  was  naturally  concerned  about  them,  and  receiving  no 
word  from  them,  he  at  last  became  so  restless,  that  he  sent 
Joseph  to  bring  him  certain  intelligence  of  their  welfare.  At 
that  time,  therefore,  Joseph  was  not  "feeding  the  flocks  with  his 
brethren  the  sons  of  Bilhah  and  Zilpah";  and  it  may  be  supposed 
that  the  relations'  existing  between  him  and  his  brothers  were 
such  that  it  was  thought  best  for  him  to  remain  at  home  with 
his  father.  It  was  55  of  60  miles  from  Mamre  to  Shechem, 
journeying  toward  the  north;  but  when  he  arrived  there,  his 
brothers  had  gone.  Wandering  about  the  field  with  no  certain 
course,  a  man  he  met  gave  him  the  information  that  they  had 
gone  to  Dothan,  some  20  miles  farther  to  the  north;  a  place 
famous  in  the  days  of  the  prophet  Elisha  for  the  protection 
which  God  there  granted  to  his  servant.  2  Kings  11;  23.  So 
Joseph  followed  on  and  overtook  them  there. 

37:  18 — 22.     while  he  was  approaching,  they  conspired  against 
him  to  kill  him.     (1729  b.  c.) 

18  And  they  saw-  him  afar  off,  and  before  he  came  near  unto  them, 
they  conspired  against  him  to  slay  him. 

19  And   they   said   one   to   another.    Behold,   this   dreamer   cometh. 

20  Come  now  therefore,  and  let  us  slay  him,  and  cast  him  into 
one  of  the  pits,  and  we  will  say.  An  evil  beast  hath  devoured  him ; 
and  we  shall  see  what  will  become  of  his  dreams. 

21  And  Reuben  heard  it,  and  delisered  him  out  of  their  hand,  and 
said.  Let  us  not  take  his  life. 

22  And  Reuben  said  unto  them.  Shed  no  blood ;  cast  him  into  this 
pit  that  is  in  the  wilderness,  but  lay  no  hand  upon  him  :  that  he 
might  deliver  him  out  of  their  hand,  to  restore  him  to  his  father. 

In  those  lands  devoted  to  the  pasturage  of  cattle,  there  were 
natural  cisterns,  or  cisterns  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  in  order  to 
collect  and  store  the  water  which  fell  in  the  rainy  season;  and 
while  Joseph  was  coming  up  to  them,  his  brothers  devised  the 
plan  of  killing  him  and  casting  him  into  one  of  those  cisterns, 
either  to  conceal  his  body,  or  to  create  the  impression  that  he 
had  himself  fallen  and  perished  there.  Reuben,  the  same  who 
had  profaned  the  fcouch  of  his  father  (ch.  35:  22),  here  presents 
himself  to  us  under  an  extremely  Mvorable  aspect.  It  seems 
that  he  was  a  man  of  good  and  humane  instincts,  but  weak  in  his 
character  and  naturally  a  sensualist — a  very  common  combina- 
tion; so  that  although  he  had  committed  that  great  crime  which 
cost  him  his  birthright,  he  was  not  willing  to  take  part  in  the 
deed  which  his  brothers  were  devising  against  Joseph.  But  see- 
ing that  they  were  so  set  on  it,  that  it  would  be  useless  to  op- 
pose their  purpose,  he  affected  to  concur  with  them,  provided 
they  themselves  would  not  shed  his  blood,  but  cast  him  alive 


CHAPTER  37:  23—30  427 

into  one  of  those  cisterns  and  leave  him  to  his  fate;  intending 
in  this  way  to  deliver  him  from  certain  death,  and,  drawing  him 
up  secretly,  to  return  him  to  his  father.  To  this  proposal  of 
his  the  others  agreed. 

37:  23 — 30.     Joseph  is  sold  to  a  caravan  of  ishmaelitish  and 
midianitish  merchants.     (1729  b.  c.) 

23  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Joseph  was  come  unto  his  brethren, 
that  they  stripped  Joseph  of  his  coat,  the  coat  of  many  colors  that 
was  on  him ; 

24  and  they  took  him,  and  cast  him  into  the  pit :  and  the  pit  was 
empty,  there  was  no  water  in  it. 

25  And  they  sat  down  to  eat  bread :  and  they  lifted  up  their 
eyes  and  looked,  and,  behold,  a  caravan  of  Ishmaelites  was  coming 
from  Gilead,  with  their  camels  bearing  spicery  and  balm  and  myrrh, 
going  to  carry  it  down  to  Egypt. 

26  And  Judah  said  unto  his  brethren,  What  profit  is  it  if  we  slay 
our  brother  and   conceal   his  blood? 

27  Come,  and  let  us  sell  him  to  the  Ishmaelites,  and  let  not  our 
hand  be  upon  him ;  for  he  is  our  brother,  our  flesh.  And  his  brethren 
hearkened   unto   him. 

28  And  there  passed  by  Midianites,  merchantmen ;  and  they  drew 
and  lifted  up  Joseph  out  of  the  pit,  and  sold  Joseph  to  the  Ishmael- 
ites for  twenty  pieces  of  silver.  And  they  brought  Joseph  into 
Egypt. 

29  And  Reuben  returned  unto  the  pit;  and,  behold,  Joseph  was 
not  in  the  pit ;  and  he  rent  his  clothes. 

30  And  he  returned  unto  his  brethren,  and  said.  The  child  is  not; 
and  I,  whither  shall  I  go? 

If  Joseph  was  expecting  a  kind  or  even  a  decent  reception  by 
his  brothers,  with  inquiries  after  the  health  of  their  old  father, 
and  of  their  mothers  and  families,  he  was  quickly  undeceived. 
Even  before  he  reached  them,  he  might  have  read  in  their  averted 
eyes  and  their  scowling  faces  the  fact  that  they  received  him 
with  ill-will,  and  were  already  prepared  to  vent  their  spite  on 
him.  All  was  in  fact  arranged  beforehand;  and  when  he  came 
up  to  them,  without  loss  of  time,  they  laid  hold  on  him,  and 
despoiling  him  of  the  hated  coat,  or  tunic,  which  he  had  on, 
and  shutting  their  ears  against  his  piteous  entreaties  (ch.  42: 
21,  22),  they  cast  him  into  a  cistern  which  was  empty,  either 
for  lack  of  rain,  or  because  it  was  one  of  those  of  which 
Jeremiah  speaks,  "broken  cistern  that  can  hold  no  water."  Jer. 
2:  13.  This  done,  those  heartless  men  "sat  down  to  eat  bread" 
— the  term  in  ordinary  use  in  the  Bible  for  partaking  of  their 
daily  food.  But  while  they  were  eating,  they  lifted  up  their 
eyes  and  saw  that  there  was  coming  toward  them  a  caravan  of 
Ishmaelites  (who  in  vrs.  28  and  36  are  also  called  "Midianites") 
going  down  to  Egypt;  their  camels  being  loaded  with  balm — the 
precious  balm  of  Gilead — and  resinous  gums;  and  Judah,  who 
was  always  the  prince  among  his  brethren   (see  ch.  49:  8 — 12), 


428  GENESIS 

proposed  that  instead  of  killing  him  by  hunger  and  thirst  in  the 
cistern,  they  should  take  him  out  and  sell  him  to  those  traveling 
merchants;  for  by  so  doing  they  would  get  rid  of  him  as  effec- 
tually as  by  his  death,  and  at  the  same  time  would  derive  some 
profit  from  the  sale.  With  him  they  all  agreed,  except  Reuben, 
who  was  not  present;  and  calling  the  Midianitish  merchants, 
they  sold  Joseph  for  twenty  pieces  (or  shekels)  of  silver — 
thirty  shekels  being  the  price  of  a  slave.    Ex.  21:  32. 

The  Ishmaelites  and  Midianites  were  both  alike  descended 
from  Abraham;  the  former  by  the  line  of  Ishmael,  and  the  latter 
by  Keturah,  the  concubine  of  Abraham,  whose  fourth  son  was 
Midian  (ch.  25:2)  whom,  together  with  his  other  brethren, 
Abraham,  during  his  lifetime,  had  sent  away  into  the  country 
of  the  East;  that  is  to  say  toward  the  east  of  Beersheba,  where 
he  then  resided.  When  Reuben  returned  to  the  cistern  and  saw 
that  Joseph  was  not  there,  he  rent  his  clothes,  and  hurried  to 
his  brethren  with  the  bitter  exclamation  on  his  lips:  "The 
child  is  not!  and  I,  whither  shall  I  go?"  They,  making  small 
account  of  his  anguish,  undeceived  him,  and  at  once  took  the 
necessary  steps  to  deceive  their  old  father  as  to  the  fate  of 
Joseph,  and  to  hide  their  crime. 

It  costs  us  no  effort  of  imagination  to  picture  to  ourselves  the 
distress  and  desperation  of  the  poor  boy  while  this  was  going 
on.  But  fortunately  they  themselves  have  painted  for  us  in 
vivid  colors  that  scene,  which  none  of  them  could  ever  blot 
from  their  memory:  and  yet  their  bowels  of  brass  never  re- 
lented. When  Joseph,  many  years  later,  held  them  all  pris- 
oners, their  grief  and  desperation  brought  to  memory  their  great 
crime,  and  they  said:  "We  are  verily  guilty  concerning  our 
brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul,  when  he 
besought  us,  and  we  would  not  hear;  therefore  is  this  distress 
come  upon  us.  And  Reuben  answered  them  saying:  Spake  I 
not  unto  you,  saying:  Do  not  sin  against  the  child!  and  ye 
would  not  hear?  Therefore  behold  also  his  blood  is  required." 
Ch.  42:  21,  22.  This  happened  twenty-two  years  after  that 
atrocious  crime  was  committed.  How  difficult  it  was  for  them, 
ten  in  number,  to  keep  that  secret!  How  difl&cult  for  Reuben, 
in  particular,  who  took  no  part  in  it!  and  we  shall  see  that 
they  did  not  keep  it  so  well  but  that  Jacob  suspected  the 
treachery  which  they  had  committed.  Heavier  than  a  mill- 
stone, the  consciousness  of  their  crime  weighed  upon  their 
soul!  Yet  they  never  confessed  it,  to  lighten  the  burden  of 
that  mill-stone!  Such  is  sin,  and  such  is  its  natural  operation, 
from  bad  to  worse. 


CHAPTER  37:  31—36  429 

87:  31 — 36.     Joseph's    coat,      the    affliction    of    his    father. 

JOSEPH  IS  sold  into  EGYPT  AS  A  SLAVE.      (1729  B.  C.) 

31  And  they  took  Joseph's  coat,  and  killed  a  he-goat,  and  dipped 
the  coat  in  the  blood ; 

32  and  they  sent  the  coat  of  many  colors,  and  they  brought  it 
to  their  father,  and  said.  This  we  have  found :  know  now  whether  it  is 
thy  son's  coat  or  not. 

33  And  he  knew  it,  and  said.  It  is  my  son's  coat ;  an  evil  beast 
hath  devoured  him ;  Joseph  is  without  doubt  torn  in  pieces. 

34  And  Jacob  rent  his  garments,  and  put  sackcloth  upon  his 
loins,  and  mourned  for  his  son  many  days. 

35  And  all  his  sons  and  all  his  daughters  rose  up  to  comfort 
him;  but  he  refused  to  be  comforted;  and  he  said.  For  I  will  go 
down  to  Sheol*  to  ray  son  mourning.     And  his  father  wept  for  him. 

36  And  the  Midianites  sold  him  into  Egypt  unto  Potiphar,  an 
officer  of  Pharaoh's,  the  captain  of  the  guard. 

[•A.  V.  into  the  grave.     Mod.  Span.  Ver.  to  the  grave.] 

One  sin  naturally  leads  to  another.  Having  dyed  the  coat 
of  Joseph  in  the  blood  of  a  he-goat,  they  sent  it  to  their  father, 
making  some  one  carry  it  (while  they  followed  behind)  -with 
the  cold  and  pitiless  message:  "This  have  we  found:  know 
now  whether  it  be  thy  son's  coat  or  not!"  Jacob  at  once  knew 
it,  and  was  plunged  into  the  bitterest  grief.  Extremely  mov- 
ing is  the  account  given  us  of  the  affliction  of  the  poor  old 
man:  "He  rent  his  garments  and  put  sackcloth  on  his  loins 
— symbols  of  grief,  humiliation  and  anguish,  mentioned  here 
for  the  first  time — ^and  mourned  for  his  son  many  days." 
Many  days,  or  rather,  many  years  his  father  lamented  him; 
and  when  all  his  sons,  who  followed  after  the  messenger  that 
brought  the  blood-stained  coat,  arose,  with  all  his  daughters, 
to  comfort  him,  he  refused  the  comfort  which  they  offered, 
saying:  "for  I  will  go  down  to  the  grave  unto  my  son  mourn- 
ing." It  seems  to  me  that  the  efforts  which  Joseph's  brethren 
made  to  comfort  their  father  would  be  so  heartless  and  me- 
chanical, and  of  such  transparent  hypocrisy,  as  would  at  once 
give  occasion  for  him  to  suspect  their  good  faith.  In  any  case, 
twenty-two  years  later,  Jacob  made  them  this  formal  accusa- 
tion, without  circumlocution:  "Me  ye  have  bereaved  of  my 
children!  Joseph  is  not,  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will  take 
Benjamin  away!"  Ch.  42:  36.  "All  his  daughters,"  in  ad- 
dition to  "all  his  sons,"  naturally  refers  to  Dinah  and  the 
wives  of  his  married  sons.  But  since,  as  a  general  rule,  the 
daughters  are  omitted  in  the  genealogies  of  the  sons,  unless 
there  be  some  notable  circumstance  to  distinguish  them,  it 
is  at  least  possible  that  Jacob  had  by  his  four  wives  more 
daughters  than  the  unhappy  Dinah;  but  their  names  are  not 
given  in  the  history. 


430  GENESIS 

[Note  27. — On  "Sheol,"  or  "Hades."  For  the  first  time  we 
have  here  the  Hebrew  word  "sheol,"  which  in  the  Greek  Ver- 
sion of  the  LXX  is  always  rendered  "hades";  and  the  latter 
is  used  in  the  same  way  eleven  times  in  the  Greek  text  of 
the  New  Testament.  The  word  is  translated  in  the  text  of  the 
Modern  Spanish  Version  (as  in  the  common  English  Version), 
"the  grave" — "I  will  go  down  unto  my  son,  mourning,  to  the 
grave!"  The  dispute  as  to  whether  "sheol"  or  "hades"  is  a  place, 
or  only  a  condition,  or  psychological  state,  will  probably  never 
be  settled  in  this  life,  nor  till  we,  each  for  himself,  enter  into 
that  state  or  condition,  and  find  out  in  our  own  experience  what 
it  is. 

Among  those  who  sustain  that  sheol  and  hades  designate  a 
PLACE,  there  are  several  opinions,  of  which  I  shall  cite  only  that 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which  teaches  that  it  is  a  vast 
subterranean  receptacle  for  the  souls  of  the  dead,  furnished 
with  various  departments;  such  as  "Limbo,"  "Purgatory,"  the 
"Hell"  of  the  lost,  etc.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  Bible 
never  speaks  of  or  refers  to  different  departments  of  "sheol" 
or  "hades."  It  is,  in  my  belief,  the  same  thing  in  fact  as  that 
phrase  we  have  already  twice  considered,  to  wit,  "give  up  the 
ghost,  died  and  was  gathered  to  Jiis  peoples,"  or  "to  his  fathers," 
which  is  used  of  good  and  bad  indifferently  (see  comments  on 
ch.  25:  8;  35:  29),  in  the  same  way  as  "death"  and  "the  grave":  — 
as  "the  shade"  of  Samuel  said  to  Saul:  "and  tomorrow  thou 
and  thy  sons  shall  he  loith  me"  (1  Sam.  28:  19);  without  refer- 
ence to  either  heaven  or  hell,  but  simply,  among  the  dead;  or 
just  as  David  said  of  his  dead  child:  "I  shall  go  to  him,  but 
he  shall  not  return  to  me."  2  Sam.  12:  23.  The  words  have 
no  local  significance  whatever.  The  different  departments  of 
sheol  or  hades  are  simply  a  wild  conceit  which  grew  up  in 
the  Ancient  Church  borrowed,  without  acknowledgment,  from 
the  mythology  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans.  Of  that 
form  and  manner  of  life  (that  of  souls  divested  of  the  body) 
we  know  nothing,  because  God  has  not  revealed  it  to  us;  and 
it  is  probable  that  he  could  not  reveal  it  to  us,  for  the  reason 
that  the  psychological  condition  of  the  dead  is  an  unfathomable 
mystery,  a  mode  of  being  of  which  xce  are  not  able  to  form 
even  a  just  conception;  for  which  cause  all  the  language  that 
is  used  in  reference  to  it  is  necessarily  figurative.  The  or- 
dinary idea  that  a  disembodied  soul  is  an  organized  being  (like 
angels  and  the  heavenly  intelligencies),  ready  for  any  class  of 
service,  is  an  extravagance  which  finds  no  foothold  whatever  in 
the  word  of  God.     Of  which  of  "the  spirits  of  just  men  made 


CHAPTER  37:  31—36  431 

perfect"  (Heb.  12:  23)  is  such  a  thing  ever  said  or  implied? 
Over  this  whole  field  of  inquiry  the  Scriptures  observe  a  pro- 
found silence,  strangely  in  contrast  with  the  voluble  loquacity 
of  all  man-made  religions.  It  is  my  firm  conviction,  after  a 
great  many  years  of  profound  study  of  this  point,  in  the  light 
which  God's  word  throws  on  it,  that  sheol  or  hades  is  not  a  place 
at  all,  in  any  right  sense  of  the  word,  but  a  condition  or  psycho- 
logical state — the  mode  of  existence  of  souls  separate  from  the 
body,  in  the  time  intermediate  between  death  and  the  resurrection. 

When  Jesus  died,  his  soul  entered  locally  into  heaven;  for 
In  dying  he  cried:  "Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my 
spirit!"  (Luke  23:46);  and  to  the  penitent  "thief,"  or  high- 
wayman, he  said:  "Today  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise!" 
(vr.  43);  and  paradise  is  heaven  according  to  2  Cor.  12:  2 — 4; 
where  Paul  speaks  of  "paradise"  as  being  the  same  thing  as 
"the  third  heaven,"  wherever  that  be;  and  also  Rev.  2:  7 
(the  only  three  passages  in  the  Bible  in  which  the  word  oc- 
curs), where  John  speaks  of  "the  tree  of  life,  xvhich  is  in  the 
paradise  of  God" ;  and  it  needs  no  argument  to  prove  that  the 
tree  of  life  does  not  grow  in  the  realms  of  death!  This  does 
not  admit  of  doubt  or  reply;  but  psychologically  speaking,  Christ 
entered  at  the  same  time  into  "sheol,"  or  "hades";  that  is, 
into  the  state  or  condition  of  souls  separate  from  the  body;  out 
of  which  he  came  on  the  third  day,  when  he  rose  again,  and 
his  soul  was  reunited  with  his  body  forevermore.  Jesus  left  the 
penitent  "thief,"  in  hades,  or  sheol,  where  he  will  remain  till 
the  resurrection  of  the  body;  because  while  divested  of  the 
body,  he  is  necessarily  in  hades  or  sheol;  notwithstanding  which, 
he  has  been  all  these  ages  "with  Christ"  in  heaven;  because 
Paul  again  says:  "While  present  in  the  body,  we  are  absent 
from  the  Lord";  "absent  from  the  body,  we  are  present  with 
the  Lord" — "to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  very  far 
better."    2  Cor.  5:  6—8;  Phil.  1:  23. 

(So  also,  the  dying  martyr  Stephen,  looking  upwards,  saw 
the  heavens  opened  and  Jesus  standing  at  the  right  hand  of 
God;  and  cried:  "Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit!"  in  the  per- 
suasion and  certainty  that  he  would  then  take  his  departing  soul 
to  himself,  where  he  saw  him  standing — as  if  to  receive  his 
faithful  servant  at  his  coming.  The  Roman  Catholic  belief 
that  immediate  admittance  into  heaven  is  the  special  privilege 
of  the  martyrs,  in  which  ordinary,  though  real,  Christians  have 
no  share,  like  most  other  inventions  of  Romanism,  has  no  foun- 
dation whatever  in  the  word  of  God.  We  are  sanctified  and 
saved  by  Christ's  blood,  and  not  by  our  own. 


432  GENESIS 

Covering  the  whole  field  of  Scripture  statement — part  only 
of  which  is  given  in  this  Note — comes  this  express  declaration  of 
Paul's:  "WE  KNOW  that  if  the  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle 
(marg.  or  bodily  frame)  be  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  from 
God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal,  in  the  heavens." 
2  Cor.  5:  1.  The  earthly  house  of  Paul's  bodily  frame  was  dis- 
solved 1800  years  ago;  but  all  this  while,  his  disembodied  soul 
has  had  from  God  a  home  in  heaven,  in  the  "house  not  made 
with  hands."  This  we  have  from  his  own  mouth.  When  the 
earthly  tabernacle  was  dissolved,  then  without  conditions  or 
delay  came  "the  building  from  God,  the  house  not  made  with, 
hands" — "heaven";  not  receiving  his  reward,  but  waiting  for  it 
"at  the  resurrection  of  the  just";  "waiting  for  the  adoption, 
to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our  body";  not  wearing  his  crown,  but 
waiting  for  "the  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  Judge,  shall  give  him  in  that  day"  (2  Tim.  4:8)  — 
waiting  ''with  Christ"  while  he  ''waits,  till  his  enemies  be  made 
his  footstool."  Heb.  10:  13.  Now  if  this  was  certainly  "known" 
by  Paul  and  his  fellow  believers  in  his  day,  why  should  any  in 
our  day  put  it  in  doubt? — Tr.) 

Another  conclusive  proof  that  sheol,  or  hades,  is  a  state,  and 
not  a  material  place,  is  found  in  the  way  it  is  associated  with 
"death"  in  three  passages  in  the  New  Testament:  1st.  In 
Rev.  1:  18,  the  risen  Jesus  says:  "I  have  the  keys  of  death 
and  of  hades,"  to  open  and  to  shut.  But  as  death  is  not  a  place 
to  have  gates  and  keys,  except  in  a  metaphorical  sense,  so 
neither  is  "hades"  a  place,  except  in  a  metaphorical  sense;  the 
two  are  in  one  identical  case.  2nd.  In  Rev.  6:  8,  John  in 
vision  saw  "a  pale  horse,  and  he  that  was  seated  upon  him 
was  called  Death;  and  Hades  followed  with  him."  But  it  is 
a  gross  absurdity  to  suppose  that  John  saw  a  vast  subterranean 
region,  which  went  flying  through  the  air,  in  pursuit  of  Death 
— something  that  has  no  existence  whatever,  material  or  spiritual. 
As  then,  death  is  a  state,  and  not  a  material  thing,  so  also  hades 
is  a  state  and  not  a  material  thing.  3rd.  In  Rev.  20:  14,  after 
the  resurrection  both  of  the  just  and  unjust,  "death  and  hades 
were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire";  that  is  to  say,  death  and  the 
disembodied  state  were  completely  and  forever  destroyed.  Now 
then,  as  "death"  is  not  a  thing,  but  only  the  separation  of  soul 
and  body,  it  could  not  be  cast  materially  anywhere;  and  it  is 
evident  that  "hades"  was  in  the  same  case.  John  did  not  see 
a  place  of  enormous  dimensions  called  "Hades''  lifted  up  in 
bulk  and  thrown  into  another  place  still  larger,  called  "the 
lake  of  fire."     As  death  is  not  a  thing,  so  hades  or  sheol  is 


CHAPTER  38:  1—5       •  433 

not  a  thing,  but  both  of  them  are  correspondent  states,  to  wit, 
the  violent  and  contra-natural  separation  of  soul  and  body  (as 
a  result  of  man's  sin),  and  the  state  or  condition,  incompre- 
hensible to  us,  of  such  separation.  As  Calvin  says  (and  his 
words  will  well  bear  repetition),  speaking  of  that  disembodied 
life  of  the  dead  (a  mode  of  being  totally  foreign  to  the  proper 
nature  of  man,  as  God  created  him) :  "The  wonderful  counsel  of 
God  devised  a  middle  state,  that  without  life  they  should  live 
in  death."  Institutes,  Book  III.,  Ch.  25,  Sec.  9.  See  also  the  com- 
ments on  ch.  42:  38.] 

While  Jacob  was  thus  lamenting  his  son  as  dead,  the  Ish- 
maelites  and  Midianites  carried  him  to  Egypt,  and  sold  him 
to  Potiphar,  captain  of  the  body-guard  of  the  king;  who  were  also, 
as  the  Hebrew  text  calls  them,  "slaughterers,"  or  executioners  of 
the  prisoners  of  state,  when  so  ordered  by  the  king.  The  word 
"officer"  is  in  Hebrew  saris  ="eunuch,"  a  word  which  in  the 
opinion  of  many,  is  used  with  some  latitude  in  the  Hebrew; 
as  is  seen  in  the  case  of  the  chief  of  the  butlers  of  Pharaoh, 
and  the  chief  of  his  bakers,  who  are  both  called  "eunuchs" 
(ch,  40:  2);  and  it  seems  evident  that  the  word  often  designates 
any  officer  of  the  court.  The  circumstance  that  he  was  a  mar- 
ried man  is  not  a  decisive  proof  that  he  was  not  really  a 
eunuch;  because,  being  one  of  the  principal  officers  of  the 
court,  he  might  have  taken  a  wife  for  sheer  ostentation.  More 
decisive  is  the  circumstance  that  he  was  the  captain  of  the 
royal  guard,  and  it  is  scarcely  credible  that  one  of  these  un- 
fortunates (emasculated  from  childhood,  in  order  to  serve  In 
the  harem  of  despotic  and  polygamous  kings)  should  be  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  of  troops,  to  guard  their  royal  per- 
sons. But  neither  is  this  decisive;  and  the  most  respectable 
authorities  maintain  that  the  Hebrew  word  saris  means  "eu- 
nuch" always,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word.  See  also  comments 
on  ch.  40:  2. 


CHAPTER  XXXVHI. 

TBS.   1 — 5.      JUDAH   SEPARATES    FROM    HIS    BRETHREN,    AND    MARRIES    A 

CANAANiTiSH  WOMAN.     (Of  Uncertain  date.     Perhaps  1744  b.  c.) 

1  And  it  came  to  pass*  at  that  time,  that  Judah  went  down 
from  his  brethren,  and  turned  in  to  a  certain  Adullamite,  whose 
name  was   Hirah. 

2  And  Judah  saw  there  a  daughter  of  a  certain  Canaanite  whose 
name  was  Shua ;  and  he  took  her,  and  went  in  unto  her. 

[•if.  iS.  F.  it  had   (already)   happened.] 


434  .  GENESIS 

3  And  she  conceived  and  bare  a  son  ;  and  he  called  his  name  Er, 

4  And  she  conceived  again,  and  bare  a  son ;  and  she  called  his 
name  Onan. 

5  And  she  yet  again  bare  a  son,  and  called  his  name  Shelah  :  and 
be  was  at  Chezib,  when  she  bare  him. 

The  history  of  Josepti  is  interrupted  at  this  point,  in  order 
to  relate  an  episode  which  has  to  do  with  the  history  of  Judah, 
and  so  with  the  descent  of  king  David  (Ruth  4:  IS — 22),  and 
thus  with  the  genealogy  of  Jesus,  the  Redeemer  of  the  world. 
Matt.  1:  3. 

At  the  time  that  Joseph  was  sold  into  Egypt,  this  unfortunate 
union  had  already  taken  place*  of  Judah  with  that  Canaanitish 
woman,  of  whom  we  do  not  know  even  her  name;  but  we  have 
those  of  her  three  sons,  whose  character,  or  at  least  that  of  the 
two  elder,  was  entirely  conformable  to  their  Canaanitish  and 
pagan  extraction. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  determine  the  time  at  which  this  took 
place;  but  it  must  have  been  a  very  little  time  after  Jacob's 
return  from  Padan-aram,  while  still  he  was  at  Succoth,  and 
before  the  rape  of  Dinah,  related  in  chapter  34.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  detail  the  proofs  of  this  here.  It  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  state  that  when  Jacob  and  his  family  went  down  into 
Egypt,  some  32  or  33  years  after  said  return,  Pharez  (whose 
birth  is  related  in  vr.  29  of  this  chapter)  carried  with  him 
two  sons,  Ezron  and  Hamul.  Ch.  40:  12.  Judah  and  his  two 
older  sons,  and  his  son  Pharez  (who  came  of  this  act  of  incest) 
must  all  have  taken  wives  (or  "women")  when  very  young,  in 
order  that  all  this  should  have  happened  in  the  interval  between 
the  return  of  Jacob  from  Padan-aram,  and  his  going  down 
into  Egypt.  But  as  it  all  had  to  do  with  pagan  people,  whose 
customs  were  none  too  clean,  and  their  ideas  of  marriage  were 
not  strict,  it  might  well  have  been  so.  For  chronological  rea- 
sons, therefore,  we  suppose  that  this  fatal  error  of  Judah  took 
place  shortly  after  Jacob  and  the  rest  of  the  family  settled  in 

*The  English  Version,  and  also  the  Revised,  given  in'  the  Bible  text, 
say :  "It  came  to  pass  at  that  time,"  etc.  ;  which  the  reader  naturally  and 
necessarily  understands  to  mean  at  the  time  that  Joseph  icas  sold  into 
Efjupt ;  although  it  certainlj-  happened  eight  or  ten  years  before  that. 
As  is  very  frequent  in  Hebrew,  "at  that  time"  has  a  wide  (and  some- 
times a  very  wide)  reach,  and  it  here  embraces  all  that  is  related  since 
the  time  of  Jacob's  return  from  Padan-aram.  Tbe  Modern  Spanish  Version 
seel£s  to  relieve  the  difhculty  by  tbe  perfectly  legitimate  rendering: 
"It  had  (already)  happened  at  that  time,"  in  the  full  knowledge  of  the 
fact  that  it  happened  not  less  than  eight  or  ten  years  before.  This  is 
not  merely  admissible,  but  indispensable,  if  the  very  object  of  a  trans- 
lation be.  not  to  mislead,  but  to  put  the  mind  of  the  reader  hi  correct 
and  satisfactory  communicatioyi  with  the  mind  of  the  writer.  See  com- 
ments on  ch.  25  :  1 — 4. — Tr. 


CHAPTER  38:  1—5  435 

Succoth,  some  years  before  he  crossed  tlic  Jordan,  and  came 
back  into  the  land  of  Canaan.  See  comments  on  ch.  33:  18 — 21. 
[In  Hebrew,  and  New  Testament  Greek  also,"wife"  and  "woman" 
are  one  and  the  same  thing;  the  same  is  true  in  Spanish  till 
today;  so  that  "my  woman"  means  "my  wife"  and  "his  woman" 
means  "Tits  wife" ;  and  in  fact  in  Hebrew  and  New  Testament 
Greek  there  are  properly  no  other  terms  for  "husband"  and 
"wife,"  except  "man"  and  "woman";  so  that,  in  vr.  2,  Judah 
saw  there  a  woman  "and  took  Tier"  does  not  necessarily  imply 
that  lie  viarriecl  her  in  our  sense  of  the  word;  nor  were  those 
pagans  very  strict  about  such  matters  anyhow.*  In  Mexico  and 
South  America,  today,  and  in  the  Spanish  Philippines,  from 
one-third  to  one-half,  or  more,  of  the  men  take  women  without 
ever  being  married  to  them;  and  in  parts  of  Roman  Catholic 
Europe  much  the  same  state  of  things  exists.  See  footnote  on 
Amance'bamiento  on  page  35.  Judah  no  doubt  took  this  woman 
before  he  was  of  marriageable  age,  according  to  our  standard 
of  things.  In  this,  the  usages  of  different  peopl-es  vary  not  a 
little.  Our  American  newspapers  have  lately  contained  the 
statement  that  in  Spain  the  legal  age  of  marriage  is  fourteen 
for  men,  and  twelve  for  women,  and  that  a  bill  has  been  in- 
troduced in  the  Spanish  Cortes  to  alter  the  law  on  that  point, 
advancing  the  legal  age  for  marriage.  But  whatever  may  or 
may  not  be  the  legal  age  in  Spain,  the  statement  shows  that 
there  is  nothing  improbable  in  what  is  here  said  about  Judah, 
and  his  sons,  and  his  grandson.  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  add 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  canonist.  Doming  Cavalario,  lays  down 
the  same  rule  for  the  legal  age  of  marriage.  Derecho  Canonico, 
Part  II,  Ch.  21,  Sec.  4;  so  that,  according  to  this  rule,  Judah, 
and  his  sons,  and  his  grandsons,  may  all  of  them  have  had  "law- 
ful marriage"  at  fourteen  years.  A  recent  commentator,  A.  R. 
Fausset,  in  commenting  on  Mai.  2:  14,  says:  "The  Jews  still 
marry  very  young,  the  husband  being  often  but  thirteen,  the  wife 
younger." — Tr.] 

The  chapter  is  extremely  shameful  for  Judah;  but  the  most 
substantial  part  of  it  is  referred  to  in  Matt.  1:3,  on  relating 
the  genealogy  of  Jesus  Christ  according  to  the  flesh;  in  order 
to  give  emphasis  to  the  fact  that  "God  sent  his  Son  in  the  like- 

*The  same  thing  is  true  of  all  pagan  countries  today;  and  tliis  con- 
stitutes tlie  peculiar  peril  (to  young  men  especially)  of  life  in  India, 
China  and  Japan.  A  recent  magazine  article  says  it  is  common  usage 
in  China  to  hire  young  women  in  this  capacity  from  their  parents 
h;j  the  year;  all  obligation  ceasing  when  the  contract  time  is  expired  ! 
It  is  well  for  Christian  people  at  home  to  know  enough  about  the  ways 
of  the  world  they  live  in. — Tr. 


436  GENESIS 

ness   of  sinful  flesh"    (Rom.    8:3);    and   thus    it   was    that   he 
bound  up  his  personal  destinies  with  those  of  our  fallen  race. 

Judah  began  the  great  error  of  his  life  by  separating  from 
his  brethren  {Heh.  he  "went  down  from  them" — to  the  Jordan, 
probably,  and  beyond  it),  instead  of  living  in  perpetual  union 
with  the  altar  of  his  father,  in  the  midst  of  a  race  of  pagans, 
whose  customs  were  bad,  very  bad.  See  Lev.  18:  24 — 27;  20:  23; 
Deut.  12:  31,  Instead  of  this,  being  nothing  more  than  a  boy, 
he  separated  from  his  brethren,  and  joined  friendship  with  one 
Hirah,  an  Adullamite, — from  Adullam  (far  to  the  south),  which 
later  was  a  royal  city  of  the  Canaanites,  and  apportioned  to 
the  tribe  of  Judah.  Josh.  12:  15;  15:  35.  There,  in  the  midst 
of  these  gentiles,  he  saw  a  Canaanitish  woman  and  took  her 
as  his  wife.  The  children  which  came  of  this  union  were  worse 
than  might  have  been  expected  even  of  a  Canaanitish  and  pagan 
mother;  or  at  least  the  two  elder  were  so. 

38:  6 — 11.      THE  CHILDREN  OF  JUDAH  AND  THE  CANAANITISH  WOMAN. 

6  And  Judah  took  a  wife  for  Er  his  first-born,  and  her  name  was 
Tamar. 

7  And  Er,  Judah's  first-born,  was  wicked  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah ; 
and  Jehovah  slew  him. 

8  And  Judah  said  unto  Onan,  Go  in  unto  thy  brother's  wife,  and 
perform  the  duty  of  a  husband's  brother  unto  her,  and  raise  up  seed 
to  thy  brother. 

9  And  Onan  knew  that  the  seed  would  not  be  his ;  and  it  came  to 
pass,  when  he  went  in  unto  his  brother's  wife,  that  he  spilled  it  on 
the  ground,  lest  he  should  give  seed  to  his  brother. 

10  And  the  thing  which  he  did  was  evil  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah : 
and  he  slew  him  also. 

11  Then  said  Judah  to  Tamar  his  daughter-in-law,  Remain  a 
widow  in  thy  father's  house,  till  Shelah  my  son  be  grown  up ;  for  he 
said.  Lest  he  also  die,  like  his  brethren.  And  Tamar  went  and 
dwelt  in  her  father's  house. 

When  Er,  the  first-born  of  Judah,  was  grown,  or  at  least 
marriageable,  his  father  took  him  a  wife  (likewise  a  Canaanite), 
named  Tamar;  but  such  was  the  wickedness  of  the  husband,  that 
Jehovah  slew  him.  What  may  have  been  the  nature  of  his 
wickedness,  we  do  not  know;  but  since  it  is  related  as  the 
wickedness  of  a  married  man,  and  besides,  as  carnal  sins  were 
those  to  which  the  Canaanites  were  especially  prone,  and  as 
his  brother  Onan  died  for  like  cause,  it  is  natural  enough  to 
suppose  that  it  was  for  secret  sins  of  uncleanness,  not  once, 
but  many  times  committed,  in  the  bonds  of  matrimony.  Upon 
the  sins  which  are  committed  in  the  state  of  marriage,  the 
Bible  tells  us  very  little;  although  the  Roman  confessional  is 
occupied  largely  with  them,  and  with  their  most  horrible  and 
revolting  details.     It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  God  has  regarded 


CHAPTER  38:  G— 11  437 

as  most  convenient  and  proper  to  draw  the  veil  of  a  decent 
reserve  over  the  intimate  relations  of  married  people,  intend- 
ing that  his  word,  with  its  exhortations  to  purity  and  holiness 
of  life,  should  work  in  each  one  (and  on  his  individual  re- 
Bponsibility),  a  sound  morality  in  this,  as  in  all  the  other  re- 
lations of  life:  "Husbands  love  your  wives,  as  Christ  also 
loved  the  Church  and  gave  himself  for  it,  that  he  might  sanctify 
It,"  etc.  Uncleanness  and  indecency  stand  paralyzed  before 
such  a  precept.  Eph.  5:  25 — 27.  "Likewise  ye  husbands  dwell 
with  them  according  to  knowledge  (or  good  sense),  giving 
honor  to  the  wife  as  unto  the  weaker  vessel,  and  as  being  heirs 
together  of  the  grace  of  life;  that  your  prayers  he  not  'hindered.'' 
1  Pet.  3:  7.  The  Papal  Church,  which  removes  the  Bible  from 
the  sight  and  knowledge  of  the  people,  even  in  its  acts  of  public 
ivorship,  substitutes  therefor  a  Latin  service  and  the  Romish 
confessional,  as  a  much  more  effectual  means  for  regulating  the 
life  both  of  the  married  and  unmarried;  but  who  that  is  capable 
of  observation  and  the  exercise  of  his  own  reason  will  judge 
that  the  filthiness  and  shameful  impertinences  of  the  Confes- 
sional are  means  of  repressing  vice  and  wickedness  to  be 
compared  with  the  only  plan  and  system  which  God  has  ap- 
proved, and  which  has  borne  such  precious  fruit  wherever  this 
method  of  God's  choice  and  appointment  is  adopted  and  followed? 
for  although  all  men  do  not  fear  God,  nor  lead  a  virtuous  and 
holy  life,  the  Bible  forms  an  elevated  social  and  public  opinion, 
which  next  to  personal  grace,  is  the  most  powerful  means  of 
purifying  and  elevating  society. 

In  conformity  with  the  law  of  the  levirate  (Deut.  25:  5 — 7), 
established  under  the  Mosaic  economy  for  the  case  of  married 
brothers  who  died  without  issue,  and  which  from  this  passage 
appears  to  have  been  of  very  ancient  use,  Judah  told  Onan, 
his  second  son,  to  take  the  wife  of  his  brother,  in  order  that 
the  latter  should  not  remain  without  a  son  and  heir.  But 
Onan  added  to  the  character  of  a  low  sensualist  that 'of  a 
malicious  despiser  of  his  deceased  brother;  abusing  at  the 
same  time  the  person  of  the  widow,  and  defrauding  her  just 
hopes.  This  conduct  of  his  (which  was  his  use  and  custom), 
so  angered  Jehovah,  that  he  slew  him  also. 

This  history  of  Onan  and  of  Tamar  has  been  severely  criticised 
by  those  who  regard  themselves  as  wiser  and  purer  than  the 
God  who  made  them.  But  Paul  says  that  "all  Scripture  (in- 
cluding this  entire  chapter)  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God, 
AND  IS  PROFITABLE  for  teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for 
Instruction  in  righteousness."    2  Tim.  3:  16.    The  matters  treated 


438  GENESIS 

of  in  this  chapter  are  of  a  delicate  character  undoubtedly,  or, 
if  you  please,  indelicate,  and  are  not  proper  for  public  read- 
ing, nor  for  that  of  the  family;  but  the  narrative  is  "profitable" 
and  was  placed  here  to  be  read  in  private;  and  it  "is  profitable 
for  the  correction"  of  those  who  are  addicted  to  secret  vices  and 
social  impurity.  We  live  in  a  world  of  sin  and  of  sinners,  and 
it  is  impossible  wholly  to  avoid  contact  with  them.  In  strongest 
contrast  with  the  corrupt  literature  of  the  day,  the  Bible 
sets  before  us  the  wickednesses  of  men  as  they  are,  without 
any  disguise,  in  all  their  hideous  nakedness;  and  close  to  the 
narrative  of  real  facts,  it  always  places  the  antidote  or  remedy. 
A  thousand  times  better  that  our  sons,  and  our  daughters  like- 
wise, learn  something  of  the  sins  and  wickednesses  of  men  as 
the  Bible  presents  them,  rather  than  come  to  know  them  by 
their  own  experience  of  what  men  are  and  of  what  they  are 
capable,  or  by  the  reading  of  books  and  witnessing  of  theatrical 
representations,  which,  without  the  use  of  words  disallowed 
by  polite  society,  inoculate  the  soul  with  a  deadly  poison. 

It  is  not  revealed  to  us  in  what  way  Jehovah  slew  these 
two  wretches;  but  it  is  clear  that  it  happened  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  suspicions  fell  on  the  young  wife,  twice  widowed, 
and  probably  within  the  space  of  a  few  months.  It  devolved  on 
Shelah  to  take  the  widow  of  his  two  brothers;  but  his  father 
was  fearful  that  their  untimely  end  might  become  his  like- 
wise. He  therefore  told  Tamar  to  return  home  and  remain 
as  a  widow  (clad  in  the  garments  of  widowhood,  vrs.  14,  19),  In 
the  house  of  her  father,  until  Shelah  was  grown;  and  she 
did  so. 

38:  12 — 23.     the  artifice  of  tamab. 

12  And  in  process  of  time  Shua's  daughter,  the  wife  of  Judah, 
died ;  and  Judah  was  comforted,  and  went  up  unto  his  sheep- 
shearers  to  Timnah,  he  and  his  friend  Hirah  the  Adullamite. 

1.3  And  it  was  told  Tamar,  saying,  Behold,  thy  father-in-law  goetb 
up  to  Timnah  to  shear  his  sheep. 

14  And  she  put  off  from  her  the  garments  of  her  widowhood,  and 
covered  herself  with  iier  veil,  and  wrapped  herself,  and  sat  in  the 
gate  of  Enaim,  which  is  by  the  way  to  Timnah,  for  she  saw  that 
Shelah  was  grown  up,  and  she  was  not  given  unto  him  to  wife. 

15  When  Judah  saw  her,  he  thought  her  to  be  a  harlot ;  for  she 
had  covered  her  face. 

16  And  lie  turned  unto  her  by  the  way,  and  said,  Come,  I  prny 
thee,  let  me  come  in  unto  thee :  for  he  knew  not  that  she  was  his 
daughter-in-law.  And  she  said.  What  wilt  thou  give  me,  that  thou 
mayest  come  in  unto  me? 

17  And  he  said,  I  will  send  thee  a  kid  of  the  goats  from  the 
flock.     And  she  said.   Wilt  thou  give  me  a  pledge,  till  thou  send  it? 

18  And  he  said.  What  pledge  shall  I  give  thee?  And  she  said, 
Thy  signet  and  thy  cord,  and  thy  staff  that  is  in  thy  hand.  And  he 
gave  them  to  her,  and  came  in  unto  her,  and  she  conceived  by  him. 


CHAPTER  38:  12—23  439 

19  And  she  arose,  and  wont  away,  and  put  off  her  veil  from  her, 
and  put  on  the  garments  of  her  widowhood. 

20  And  Judah  sent  the  kid  of  the  goats  by  the  hand  of  his 
friend  the  Adullamite,  to  receive  the  pledge  from  the  woman's 
hand  :  but  he  found  her  not. 

21  Then  he  asked  the  men  of  her  place,  saying,  Where  is  the 
prostitute,  that  was  at  Enaim  by  the  wayside?  And  they  said. 
There  hath  been  no  prostitute  here. 

22  And  he  returned  to  .Tudah.  and  said,  I  have  not  found  her ; 
and  also  the  men  of  the  place  said.  There  hath  been  no  prostitute 
here. 

23  And  .Tudah  said,  I^t  her  take  it  to  her,  lest  we  be  put  to 
shame:  behold,  I  sent  this  kid,  and  thou  hast  not  found  her. 

Tamar  was  astute  and  a  woman  of  resolution,  and  seeing, 
with  the  lapse  of  time,  that  Judah  was  not  going  to  give  her 
to  Shelah,  but  was  trying  rather  to  get  rid  of  her,  like  a 
pagan  and  a  Canaanite,  she  resolved  to  take  reprisals  on  himself; 
Bince  it  was  not  lawful  for  her  to  marry  another  while  Shelah 
lived.  It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  the  details  of  this 
artifice  of  hers;  the  text  is  plain  enough: — she  claimed  her 
place  in  the  family  of  Judah,  while  he  was  evidently  trying  to 
separate  her  from  him.  In  this  plan  of  hers  we  see,  first,  that 
in  point  of  moral  character,  Judah  was  no  better  than  a  pagan; 
and  second,  that  Tamar  was  well  acquainted  with  thal^  fact,  and 
on  this  knowledge  she  based  her  plan  to  ensnare  him,  and 
obtain  the  place  in  his  family  that  was  hers  of  right.  With 
much  shrewdness  she  protected  herself  against  the  consequences 
of  such  an  act,  taking  undeniable  pledges  from  the  father  of 
her  child.  She  withdrew  at  once  with  the  pledges  obtained, 
which  she  carefully  kept  for  the  proper  occasion. 

The  word  "prostitue,"  in  vrs.  21  and  22,  fills  us  with  blush- 
ing and  shame,  on  considering  what  men  are  capable  of  being 
and  doing,  even  in  the  matter  of  religion!  It  is  the  selfsame 
word  that  in  the  worship  of  Jehovah  and  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  is  rendered  "holy,"  "saint,"  or  "consecrated"  one,  which 
was  used  even  in  times  so  remote,  for  those  who  "consecrated" 
their  persons  to  the  service  of  the  filthy  gods  and  goddesses 
of  paganism.  Even  before  the  word  is  used  of  the  "saints," 
or  "consecrated  ones"  of  Jehovah,  we  find  it  in  current  use  for 
women  who  prostituted  their  persons  to  the  shameless  rites 
of  Astarte,  the  "Venus"  of  the  Syrians  and  Canaanites.  ,  Hor- 
rible prostitution  of  words,  as  well  as  persons!  The  masculine 
form  of  the  word  was  used  for  those  of  the  opposite  sex  who 
prostituted  their  persons  on  the  altars  of  the  same  pagan 
goddess,  consecrating  themselves  to  her,  for  the  practice  of 
vices  which  may  not  be  named.  See  Deut.  23:  17.  Compare 
also  what  Moses  says  of  the  same  impure  rites  in  Deut.  20:  18 


440  GENESIS 

— "all  their  abominations,  ivhich  they  have  done  unto  their 
gods."  What  "saints"  are  these  of  paganism!  and  what  gods! 
Thus  it  was  done  in  Rome  itself,  in  the  days  of  its  greatest 
glory  and  corruption,  among  all  classes!  (read  the  record  in 
Rom.  1:  24 — 27);  and  our  missionaries  tell  us  that  the  same  im- 
pure religious  rites  are  common  in  Hindustan  today,  even  under 
British  rule. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  A.  P.  Mendes,  referred  to  on  p.  244,  corrected 
my  translation  of  vr.  23  thus:  ''Lest  we  make  ourselves  ridicu- 
lous"; but  whether  it  be  "appear  ridiculous,"  or  "fall  into  con- 
tempt," as  the  Mod.  Span.  Ver.  has  it,  or  "be  put  to  shame"  as 
in  the  English  text,  it  is  instructive  to  notice  in  how  much 
greater  esteem  sinners  hold  the  good  opinion  of  men  than 
the  good  opinion  of  God.  As  Jesus  says:  "They  love  the 
praise  of  men  more  than  the  praise  of  God."     John  12:  43. 

38:  24 — 26.     judah  condemns  heb  to  death;   but  tamab  frees 
herself   by    means    of    the    pledges    she    had    taken    from 

HIMSELF. 

24  And  it  came  to  pass  about  three  months  after,  that  it  was 
told  Judah,  saying,  Tamar  thy  daughter-in-law  hath  played  the 
harlot ;  and  moreover,  behold,  she  is  with  child  by  whoredom.  And 
Judah  said,  Bring  her  forth,  and  let  her  be  burnt. 

25  When  she  was  brought  forth,  she  sent  to  her  father-in-law, 
saying,  By  the  man,  whose  these  are,  am  I  with  child :  and  she 
said.  Discern,  1  pray  thee,  whose  are  these,  the  signet,  and  the 
cords,  and  the  staff. 

26  And  Judah  acknowledged  them,  and  said.  She  is  more  righteous 
than  I,  forasmuch  as  I  gave  her  not  to  Shelah  my  son.  And  he  knew 
her  again  no  more. 

We  see  here  that  in  Canaan,  the  same  as  in  other  nations 
and  peoples  of  ancient  times,  adultery  was  punished  with  death; 
but  in  the  midst  of  the  ruling  corruption  of  social  habits,  it 
is  certain  that  they  did  not  look  to  the  moral  side  of  the 
question,  so  much  as  to  the  inconvenience  arising  from  the 
disturbance  of  the  peace  of  families,  and  particularly  to  the 
inability  of  the  husband  and  father  to  distinguish  between  his 
own  children  and  those  of  another.  Even  that  great  Roman. 
Cicero,  said,  as  is  related  of  him,  that  adultery  was  a  grave 
crime,  but  that  simple  fornication  among  the  unmarried  was  a 
matter  of  small  importance.  [And  Herodotus,  "the  father  of 
history,"  particularly  describes  the  public  prostitution  of  their 
persons,  with  some  stranger,  which  every  young  woman  in 
Babylon,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  was  expected  to  make, 
in  the  temple  of  Melitta,  the  Babylonian  Venus,  before  she  was 
eligible   for   marriage.      See   Adam    Clarke's   Commentary   on    2 


CHAPTER  38:  24—26  441 

Kings  17:  39.  It  is  every  way  important  for  our  people  to 
understand  the  extreme  corruption  of  manners  that  prevailed  in 
Bible  lands,  instead  of  judging  of  them  more  or  less  by  people 
in  Christian  lands,  as  most  people  seem  to  do.  Without  this, 
the  Bible  can  never  be  properly  understood,  nor  can  we  truly 
know  from  what  a  bottomless  abyss  of  corruption  the  word  and 
revelation  of  God  has  delivered  us. — Tr.] 

It  would  seem  also  that  without  appealing  to  judges  or  tribu- 
nals, the  father  was  the  competent  judge  to  decide  in  such 
cases,  and  even  to  punish  with  death.  Among  the  ancient 
Romans  also,  the  "pater  familias"  exercised  the  power  of  life 
and  death,  not  only  over  his  slaves,  but  over  the  members  of 
his  own  family.  Judah,  who  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case 
of  Joseph,  was  not  a  bit  compassionate  with  his  own  brother, 
was  still  less  so  with  his  daughter-in-law,  who  being  the  widow 
of  his  two  elder  sons,  and  pledged  to  be  the  wife  of  the  third, 
was  reputed  an  adulteress;  so  that  without  entering  on  any 
investigation  of  the  matter,  he  decided  summarily  the  case,  and 
ordered  that  she  be  taken  out  and  burnt.  Such  promptitude  and 
such  severity  in  judgment  show  the  little  estimation  in  which 
human  life  was  held;  and  seem  besides  to  manifest  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  malevolence  towards  her  on  the  part  of  Judah 
(without  being  able  to  prove  anything  against  her),  as  the 
cause  of  the  untimely  and  suspicious  death  of  his  two  elder 
sons.  It  gives  us  a  bad  opinion  of  the  administration  of 
justice  in  those  times,  to  see  that  she  was  not  so  much  aa 
brought  into  the  presence  of  her  father-in-law,  before  she  was 
sentenced  and  even  led  out  to  be  burnt;  so  that  she,  without 
having  the  opportunity  to  defend  herself,  or  even  to  deliver  In 
person  the  pledges  into  his  hands,  was  obliged  to  send  them 
to  him,  with  the  message  which  opened  his  eyes  to  his  in- 
justice, if  not  to  his  sin.  Judah  recognized  the  pledges,  the 
signet,  the  cords  and  the  staff,  which  he  himself  had  given 
her,  and  said:  "She  is  more  righteous  than  I;  forasmuch  aa 
I  gave  her  not  to  Shelah  my  son;"  but  of  his  own  sin  of  adultery 
and  of  incest  he  seems  not  to  have  made  much  account.  He 
had  condemned  her  to  death  by  fire,  for  a  sin  in  which  he 
had  taken  the  principal  part!  God  will  not  thus  decide  in 
that  day  when  he  will  "judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by 
Jesus  Christ."  Society  makes  (and  perhaps  necessarily),  a  dis- 
tinction of  sexes  in  sins  of  unchastity;  but  not  so  with  God: 
the  man  will  always  be  held  as  equally  guilty  with  the  woman, 
and  in  most  cases  as  more  guilty  than  she.    And  in  the  penalties 


442  GENESIS 

imposed  under  the  Mosaic  law,  the  same  punishment  was  meted 
out  to  the  one  as  to  the  other. 

The  penalty  of  death  by  fire  it  would  seem  was  not  unfre- 
quent  among  the  pagans.  According  to  the  Mosaic  law,  that 
penalty  was  imposed  in  but  a  single  case — that  of  the  daughter 
of  a  priest  who  gave  herself  up  to  a  life  of  social  impurity, 
profaning  thus  both  herself  and  her  father.  Lev.  21:  9.  But 
in  her  case  it  is  to  be  supposed  that  she  was  to  be  burnt  after 
she  ivas  stoned;  as  was  actually  done  to  Acan;  in  whose  case 
we  have  a  particular  account  of  this  identical  sentence,  and 
of  the  manner  of  its  execution.    Josh.  7:  15,  25,  26. 

38:  27 — 30.     the  accouchement. 

27  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  time  of  her  travail,  that,  behold, 
twins  were  in  her  womb. 

28  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  she  travailed,  that  one  put  out 
a  hand :  and  the  midwife  took  and  bound  upon  his  hand  a  scarlet 
thread,  saying,  This  came  out  first. 

2i)  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  he  drew  back  his  hand,  that,  behold, 
his  brother  camo  out :  and  she  said,  Wherefore  hast  thou  made  a 
breach  for  thyself?  therefore  his  name  was  called  Perez. 

30  And  afterward  came  out  his  brother,  that  had  the  scarlet  thread 
upon  his  hand :  and  his  name  was  called  Zerah. 

Tamar  gave  birth  to  twins,  of  which  the  elder  was  Pharez, 
or  according  to  the  Hebrew,  Perez — a  name  of  distinction  in 
Israel.  From  him  was  descended  David,  and  through  him, 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Ruth  4:18—22;  Matt.  1:3.  The  sec- 
ond was  Zerah,  of  whom  we  know  only  that,  Er  and  Onan 
having  died  childless,  he  with  Shelah  and  Pharez  were  the 
progenitors  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  It  is  to  be  noted  that,  in 
spite  of  the  blot  that  darkens  the  good  name  of  Tamar,  she 
and  her  son  Pharez  appear  to  have  always  been  favorites  among 
the  people  of  Israel;  due  perhaps  to  the  decision  of  character 
and  resolution  of  spirit  which  she  manifested,  and  the  tragic 
interest  that  invested  the  birth  of  the  boy.  Thus  it  was  that 
the  elders  and  the  people  of  Bethlehem  blessed  Boaz,  when  he 
took  to  wife  Ruth  the  Moabitess,  saying:  "And  let  thy  house 
be  like  the  house  of  Pharez,  whom  Tamar  bare  unto  Judah,  of 
the  seed  which  Jehovah  shall  give  thee  of  this  young  woman!" 
Ruth  4:  12. 

We  will  not  leave  this  chapter  without  calling  attention  again 
to  the  fact  that  in  the  genealogical  table  of  the  descent,  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh,  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world, 
with  which  Matthew  begins  his  Gospel,  he,  by  direction  and 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  brings  to  mind  the  fact  that  the 
Son  of  God  and  Redeemer  of  men  came  of  this  very  act  of  both 


CHAPTER  39:  1—6  443 

Incest  and  adultery,  of  which  the  account  is  given  in  this 
chapter:  "And  Judah  begat  Pharez  and  Zerah  of  Tamar;  and 
Pharez  begat  Hezron,"  etc.  Matt.  1:  3.  And  if  some  fastidious 
reader,  who  presumes  to  be  more  pure  and  prudent  than  Moses 
and  Matthew,  and  than  the  Holy  Spirit  who  guided  their  pens, 
shall  ask:  "What  is  the  practical  utility  of  this  indecorous 
story  that  we  have  in  this  chapter?"  it  will  be  sufficient  (in 
addition  to  the  reasons  previously  given),  to  reply:  "In  order 
that  it  may  be  known  to  all  that  Jesus  Christ  was  not  born 
of  "an  immaculate  vessel,"  as  Roman  Catholics  persistently 
affirm  that  it  must  have  been, —  (though  the  Bible  says  not 
a  word  about  it,  and  the  Papal  Church  itself  could  not  decide 
the  matter  of  the  immaculate  conception  of  Mary  to  its  own  satis- 
faction, after  centuries  of  wrangling  about  it,  till  1800  years 
after  her  death) ;  affirming  rather  that  Christ,  the  Redeemer, 
cavie  of  a  sinful  race,  and  that  his  line  of  descent  was  stained 
with  the  worst  of  sins  and  crimes;  and  no  doubt  for  this  very 
reason  the  Holy  Spirit  has  given  us  detailed  accounts  of  Tamar, 
and  of  Rahab,  and  of  Bathsheba;  each  one  of  whom  figures  by 
name  in  this  genealogical  table  with  which  Matthew's  Gospel 
begins — "The  genealogy  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  David,  the 
Son  of  Abraham" — the  only  genealogy  in  the  Bible  that  calls 
attention  to  the  scandalous  sins  committed  in  the  line  of 
any  man's  descent.  "God  sent  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of 
sinful  flesh."    Rom.  8:  3. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

VES.    1 — 6.      THE   INTERKUPTED  HISTORY   OF   JOSEPH   IS   HERE   RESUMED. 
(1729   B.   C.) 

1  And  Joseph  was  brought  down  to  Egypt;  and  Potiphar,  an 
officer  of  Pharaoh's,  the  captain  of  the  guard,  an  Egyptian,  bought 
him  of  the  hand  of  the  Ishmaelites,  that  had  brouglit  him  down 
thither. 

2  And  Jehovah  was  with  Joseph,  and  he  was  a  prosperous  man ; 
and  he  was  in  the  house  of  his  master  the  Egyptian. 

3  And  his  master  saw  that  Jehovah  was  with  him,  and  that 
Jehovah  made  all  that  he  did  to  prosper  in  his  hand. 

4  And  Joseph  found  favor  in  his  sight,  and  he  ministered  unto 
him  :  and  he  made  him  overseer  over  his  house,  and  all  that  he  had 
he  put  into  his  hand. 

5  And  it  came  to  pass  from  the  time  that  he  made  him  overseer 
in  his  house,  and  ovpr  all  that  he  hnd.  that  Jehovah  blessed  the 
Egyptian's  house  for  .Tospph's  sake;  and  the  blessing  of  Jehovah  was 
upon  all  that  he  had,  in  the  house  and  in  the  field. 

(')  And  he  left  all  that  he  had  in  Joseph's  hand:  and  lie  knew  not 
aught  that  ivas  with  him.  save  the  bread  which  he  did  eat.  And 
Joseph  was  comely,  and  well-favored. 


444  GENESIS 

That  episode  with  regard  to  the  family  of  Judah  being  finishc -,, 
the  history  of  Joseph  is  resumed  at  the  point  where  we  left 
him,  at  the  close  of  chapter  37,  sold  as  a  slave  to  Potiphar, 
an  oflBcer  of  Pharaoh,  in  Egypt.  At  every  step  we  here  see 
the  hand  of  the  divine  Providence.  With  respect  to  this  special 
providence  which  carried  Jacob  and  his  family  into  Egypt, 
to  make  of  them  there  a  strong  nation,  and  educate  them 
for  the  high  destinies  that  awaited  them,  the  Psalmist  says: 

"He  sent  a  man  before  them; 

Joseph  was  sold  for  a  servant: 

his  feet  they  hurt  with  fetters; 

he  was  laid  in  chains  of  iron, 

until  the  time  that  his  word  came  to  pass, 

the  word  of  Jehovah  tried  him. 

The  king  sent  and  loosed  him, 

even  the  ruler  of  peoples  and  let  him  go  free. 

He  made  him  lord  of  his  house, 

and  ruler  of  all  his  substance; 

to  bind  his  princes  at  his  pleasure, 

and  teach  his  senators  wisdom. 

Israel  also  came  into  Egypt, 

and  Jacob  sojourned  in  the  land  of  Ham." 

Ps.  105:  17—23. 

In  all  this,  it  was  the  purpose  of  God  to  educate  this  pas- 
toral people  and  fit  them  to  act  in  the  world  the  most  important 
part  that  any  nation  has  ever  performed;  and  he  took  care 
that  the  circumstances  should  be  the  most  favorable  possible 
for  this  end.  If  there  be  a  history  that  should  be  called  par 
excellence  "The  Drama  of  Divine  Providence,"  it  is  this  of 
Joseph;  and  yet  neither  he,  nor  his  father,  nor  any  one  else 
in  those  ages  was  capable  of  understanding  it,  except  in  dis- 
joined and   incomplete   parts. 

In  the  midst  of  his  calamities,  Jehovah  was  with  Joseph, 
and  made  him  "a  prosperous  man,"  to  such  a  degree  that  his 
master  could  not  but  perceive  it;  and  he  entrusted  to  his 
hands  all  that  he  possessed.  Joseph's  personal  endowments, 
which  from  a  child  had  almost  infatuated  his  father,  did  not 
fail  to  secure  him  the  high  esteem  of  his  master  also,  and 
when  to  this  was  added  that  notable  prosperity  with  which 
Jehovah  blessed  him,  for  Joseph's  sake,  the  confidence  which 
he  reposed  in  him  became  unbounded.  The  declaration  that 
"his  master  saw  that  Jehovah  was  with  him,"  etc.,  makes  it 
evident  that  Joseph  did  not  leave,  like  too  many,  his  religion 


CHAPTER  39:  1—6  445 

in  his  father's  home,  nor  concealed  it  in  the  house  of  his 
Egyptian  master.  He  did  not  forget,  nor  was  he  ashamed  of 
the  7iame  of  Jehovah  his  God.  It  was  no  Egyptian  god  who, 
in  the  conviction  and  by  the  confession  of  Potiphar,  blessed 
him  for  Joseph's  sake.  The  Egyptian  had  the  good  sense  not  to 
esteem  him  the  less  on  that  account;  and  it  is  probable  that 
because  he  had  "let  his  light  shine  before  men,"  his  master 
did  not  give  too  much  credit  to  the  crime  which  his  own  wife 
laid  to  the  charge  of  Joseph. 

The  statement  in  vr.  2  that  "he  was  in  the  house  of  his 
master  the  Egyptian,"  means  to  say  that  Joseph  was  occupied 
in  domestic  duties  and  in  the  management  of  his  master's 
dwelling,  where  he  was  in  constant  and  familiar  intercourse 
with  his  family;  and  from  that  circumstance  came  his  prin- 
cipal danger,  on  account  of  those  very  personal  endowments 
which  everywhere  gained  him  the  good  will  of  all.  The  words 
"and  Joseph  was  comely  and  well  favored,"  or,  as  more  exactly 
given,  according  to  the  Hebrew  text,  in  the  Modern  Spanish 
Version,  "was  of  a  handsome  figure  and  beautiful  countenance," 
are  precisely  those  with  which  in  ch.  29:  17  is  described  the 
extraordinary  beauty  of  his  mother  Rachel;  and  as  these  same 
words  are  never  used  of  any  others,  it  is  reasonable  to  infer 
that  the  mother  and  the  son  were  much  alike,  and  that  a  manly 
beauty  such  as  his  was  something  seldom  seen,  particularly 
among  the  swarthy  Egyptians.  Extraordinary  beauty  is  a  very 
great  gift  of  God,  which,  since  sin  entered  into  the  world,  is 
fortunately  very  rare;  for  it  is  the  cause  of  many  sins,  and 
Is  always  attended  with  constant  dangers.  And  yet  we  may  be 
very  sure  that  every  variation  from  the  absolute  perfection 
of  face  and  form,  in  our  race,  is  due  directly  or  indirectly 
to  the  sin  of  man;  and  is  perhaps  the  least  important  and 
deplorable  of  its  consequences.  But  when  redeeming  grace 
shall  have  fully  accomplished  its  work,  and  "Israel  is  saved 
in  the  Lord  with  everlasting  salvation,"  we  shall  know  forms 
of  beauty  of  which  we  now  can  but  dimly  conceive.  "He  shall 
beautify  the  meek  with  salvation."  Ps.  149:  4.  "Let  the  beauty 
of  the  Lord  our  God  be  upon  us!"  Ps.  90:  17.  God  will  have 
no  homely  children  in  that  his  coming  kingdom  of  righteousness 
and  life  eternal,  where  we  shall  see  beauty  without  impure 
desire,  and  another's  prosperity  and  happiness,  without  one 
envious  thought.  The  manly  beauty  of  Joseph  was  worth  no 
little  to  him  in  his  master's  esteem,  and  served  him  a  valuable 
purpose  when  he  was  exalted  to  the  second  place  in  Pharaoh'g 


446  GENESIS 

kingdom;   but  in  so  far  as  concerned  his  mistress,  his  master's 
wife,  it  came  little  short  of  costing  him  his  life. 

39:  7 — 18.      THE  TEMPTATION  AND  TRIAL  OF  JOSEPH. 

(Of  uncertain   date.) 

7  And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  thins;s,  that  his  master's  wife 
cast  her  eyes  upon  Joseph;  and  she  said,  Lie  with  me. 

8  But  he  refused,  and  said  unto  his  master's  wife,  Behold,  my 
master  icnoweth  not  what  is  with  me  in  the  house,  and  he  hath 
put  all  that  he  hath  into  my  hand : 

9  he  is  not  greater*  in  this  house  than  I;  neither  hath  he  kept 
back  anything  from  me  but  thee,  because  tliou  art  his  wife :  how 
then  can  I  do  this  great  wickedness,   and   sin   against  God? 

10  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  she  spake  to  Joseph  day  by  day,  that 
he  hearkened  not  unto  her,  to  lie  by  her,  or  to  be  with  her. 

11  And  it  came  to  pass  about  this  time,  that  he  went  into  the 
house  to  do  his  work ;  and  there  was  none  of  the  men  of  the  house 
there  within. 

12  And  she  caught  him  by  his  garment,  saying.  Lie  with  me  :  and 
he  left  his  garment  in  her  hand,  and  fled,  and  got  him  out. 

13  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  she  saw  that  he  had  left  his  garment 
in  her  hand,  and  was  fled  forth, 

14  that  she  called  unto  the  men  of  her  house,  and  spake  unto 
them,  saying,  See,  he  hath  brought  in  a  Hebrew  unto  us  to  mock  us : 
he  came  in  uuto  me  to  lie  with  me,  and  I  cried  with  a  loud  voice : 

15  and  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  heard  that  I  lifted  up  my  voice 
and  cried,  that  he  left  his  garment  by  me,  and  fled,  and  got  him 
out. 

16  And  she  laid  up  his  garment  by  her,  until  his  master  came 
home. 

17  And  she  spake  unto  him  according  to  these  words,  saying.  The 
Hebrew  servant,  whom  thou  hast  brought  unto  us,  came  in  unto  me 
to  mock  me : 

18  and  it  came  to  pass,  as  I  lifted  up  my  voice  and  cried,  that  he 
left  his  garment  by  me,  and  fled  out. 

[*A.  V.  and  R.  v.,  there  Is  none  greater.] 

Joseph  was  17  years  old  when  he  was  sold  into  Egypt.  I 
suppose  that  any  attentive  reader  of  what  had  happened  since 
then  would  say  that  at  this  time  he  could  not  have  been  less 
than  23  to  25.  The  things  here  related  are  not  those  of  a  boy 
of  seventeen.  So  that  the  common  chronology,  which  is  given 
in  our  Bibles,  is  in  conflict  with  this  intimate  conviction  of 
every  reader;  for  it  gives  one  and  the  same  date  to  all  these 
happenings:  so  that  Joseph  was  17  years  old  when  sold  into 
Egypt;  17  when  made  steward  of  all  his  master's  estate;  17 
when  his  mistress  tempted  him  to  do  that  great  wickedness 
and  sin  against  God;  17  when  upon  her  false  accusation  he 
was  cast  into  prison,  and  there  became,  in  fact,  keeper  of 
the  king's  prisoners;  where  he  passed  the  13  intermediate 
years,  till,  when  30  years  of  age,  he  was  presented  before 
Pharaoh.  This  fact  sets  in  a  clear  light  the  uncertainty  of  many 
of  the  dates  given  in  the  margin  of  our  Bibles,     See  Note  12, 


CHAPTER  39:  19—23  447 

on  Biblical  Chronology.  "We  take  for  granted,  therefore,  that 
the  prosperous  state  of  Joseph  lasted  from  five  to  eight  years 
In  the  house  of  his  master,  and  that  he  was  from  twenty-three 
to  twenty-five  years  old  when  his  mistress  put  his  virtue  and 
piety  to  such  sore  proof;  so  that  he  would  not  pass  more  than 
from  four  to  seven  years  in  prison,  till  the  time  that  he  was 
presented  before  Pharaoh.  The  commentator  Adam  Clarke  gives 
him  nine  years  in  his  master's  house,  and  only  four  years  in 
prison. 

The  trial  of  Joseph  came  to  him  in  a  form  the  most  im- 
possible to  evade,  and  the  hardest  to  resist.  When  a  woman, 
and  especially  a  married  woman,  puts  aside  her  honor,  and 
resolves  at  all  hazards  to  do  her  pleasure  and  effect  her  pur-t 
pose,  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  more  dangerous  than  she. 
Solomon  has  said:  "I  find  more  bitter  than  death  the  woman 
whose  heart  is  snares  and  nets,  and  whose  hands  are  bands; 
whoso  pleaseth  God  shall  escape  from  her;  but  the  sinner  shall 
be  taken  by  her."  Eccl.  7:  26.  The  duties  of  Joseph  kept  him 
precisely  at  home,  and  he  could  not  be  in  the  house  without 
being  in  the  way  of  temptation;  and  every  day  his  master's 
wife  renewed  her  criminal  solicitations.  By  yielding  to  them, 
Joseph  would  for  awhile  have  passed  a  life  of  ease  and  sinful 
indulgence;  by  resisting  her  demands,  he  ran  the  risk  of  almost 
certain  ruin.  But  the  fear  of  sinning  against  God  (as  he 
frankly  confessed  to  her),  and  not  the  dictates  of  a  merely 
human  prudence,  nor  merely  gratitude  towards  his  master  who 
had  entrusted  his  honor  and  all  his  interests  to  his  hands, 
detained  him,  even  though  it  should  cost  him  his  life.  So 
that  he  not  only  rejected  her  proposals,  but  would  not  even 
consent  to  be  near  her.  More  than  this  he  could  not  do,  with- 
out fleeing  from  the  house;  which,  being  a  slave,  he  was  un* 
able  to  do.  His  master's  wife,  therefore,  finding  herself  unable 
to  gain  her  end,  determined  to  wreak  her  vengeance  on  him; 
and  the  vengeance  of  a  wicked  woman  knows  no  bounds;  so 
that  if  her  husband  had  had  entire  confidence  in  her,  he  would 
probably  have  taken  Joseph's  life  without  further  delay,  as 
she  had  in  her  hand  his  garment,  to  accredit  her  words. 

39:  19—23.    Joseph  in  prison.     (Of  uncertain  date.) 

19  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  his  master  heard  the  words  of  his 
wife,  which  she  spake  unto  him,  saying.  After  this  manner  did  thy 
servant  to  me ;  that  his  wrath  was  kindled. 

20  And  Joseph's  master  took  him,  and  put  him  into  the  prison, 
the  place  where  the  king's  prisoners  were  bound :  and  he  was  there 
in  the  prison, 


448  GENESIS 

21  But  Jehovah  was  with  Joseph,  and  showed  kindness  unto  him, 
and  gave  him  favor  in  the  sight  of  the  keeper  of  the  prison. 

22  And  the  keeper  of  the  prison  committed  to  Joseph's  hand  all 
the  prisoners  that  were  in  the  prison;  and  whatsoever  they  did 
there,  he  was  the  doer  of  it. 

23  The  keeper  of  the  prison  looked  not  to  anything  that  was  under 
his  hand,  because  Jehovah  was  with  him ;  and  that  which  he  did, 
Jehovah  made  it  to  prosper. 

The  wise  king  has  said:  "There  is  a  righteous  man  that 
perisheth  in  (or  by)  his  righteousness;  and  there  is  a  wicked 
man  that  prolongeth  his  life  in  (or  by)  his  evil-doing."  Eccl. 
7:  15.  Undoubtedly  Joseph  knew  perfectly  with  whom  he  had 
to  do,  but  it  is  clear  that  he  was  resolved  to  "resist  unto  blood, 
striving  against  sin."     Heb.  12:  4. 

One  of  two  things:  either  his  master  being  a  eunuch,  as  says 
the  Hebrew  text,  believed  that  the  wife  did  not  behave  any 
worse  with  him  than  he  with  her;  or,  doubting  of  her  good 
faith,  although  burning  in  anger,  he  thought  best  to  examine 
the  matter  more  thoroughly,  before  punishing  with  greater 
severity  his  favorite  slave  and  the  most  valuable  attendant  he 
had;  he  therefore  cast  him  into  prison,  the  prison  in  which 
were  kept  the  king's  prisoners,  and  of  which  he,  as  captain 
of  the  guard,  had  the  command;  although  he  had  a  jailor 
under  him,  to  whom  he  committed  the  immedate  care  of  the 
prisoners.  We  know  by  ch.  40:  3,  7,  that  the  prison  was  "in 
the  house  of  the  captain  of  the  guard,"  and  by  vr.  15,  that 
it  was  a  "dungeon"  {Heb.  pit).  The  word  "prison"  (ch.  39:  20; 
40:  3)  in  the  Hebrew  text  is  "round  house,"  or  castle;  so  that 
Joseph  did  not  go  out  of  the  house  of  his  master,  but  was  in 
the  subterranean  part,  or  dungeons,  of  the  same,  which  formed 
the  jail  of  the  prisoners  of  the  king. 

In  the  midst  of  these  great  trials  which  he  suffered  "for 
righteousness  sake,"  God  granted  him  marked  tokens  of  his 
approval,  "and  gave  him  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  keeper  of 
the  prison,"  just  as  he  had  given  him  grace  or  favor  in  the 
eyes  of  his  master,  when  he  was  first  brought  to  Egypt.  Ch. 
39:  4.  It  is  most  important  for  us  in  times  of  severe  afHic- 
tion  and  trial,  when  we  are  sure  that  we  are  walking  the  path 
of  duty  and  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  to  look  for  those 
favorable  providences  with  which  God  ordinarily  sustains  the 
hope  of  his  people,  and  interpret  them  as  indications  of  his 
favor  and  love;  that  we  may  be  of  good  cheer  and  not  faint 
under  the  burden.  Thus  it  happened  with  Joseph;  and  the 
keeper  of  the  prison  put  into  his  hands  the  internal  manage- 
ment of  the  prison;  and  he  gave  himself  no  care  about  it, 
"because    Jehovah    was    with    Joseph,    and    that    which    he    did 


CHAPTER  40:  1—4  449 

Jehovah  made  it  to  prosper" — a  repetition  of  the  words  which 
describe  in  vr.  3,  the  prosperous  estate  which  at  one  time  he 
enjoyed  in  the  house  of  his  master,  and  the  unlimited  con- 
fidence which  his  master  reposed  in  him.  If  it  be  aslted  what 
right  the  jailor  had  to  delegate  to  Joseph  the  obligations  which 
were  officially  and  personally  his  own,  ch.  40:  4  will  give  us 
the  proof  that  he  did  so  with  a  full  knowledge  and  consent  of 
the  captain  of  the  guard;  because  when  the  chief  of  the 
bakers  and  the  chief  of  the  butlers  sinned  against  Pharaoh, 
and  were  cast  into  prison,  the  captain  of  the  guard  himself, 
Joseph's  master,  gave  him  the  charge  of  them.  Ch.  40:  4.  It 
is  clear,  therefore,  that  what  had  passed  with  his  wife  had 
not  at  all  diminished  the  esteem  in  which  he  held  Joseph, 
and  that  he  had  yet  entire  confidence  in  his  rectitude. 

CHAPTER  XL. 

VESri — ^1."  THE    CHIEF    OF    PHABAOH'S    BUTLERS,    AND    THE    CHIEF    OF 
HIS    BAKERS.        (1718    B.    C.) 

1  And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  the  butler  of  the 
king  of  Egypt  and   his  baker  offended  their  lord  the   king  of  Egypt. 

2  And  Pharaoh  was  wroth  against  his  two  officers,  against  the 
chief  of  the  butlers,  and  against  the  chief  of  the  bakers. 

3  And  he  put  them  in  ward  in  the  house  of  the  captain  of  the 
guard,  into  the  prison,  the  phice  where  Joseph  was  bound. 

4  And  the  captain  of  the  guard  charged  Joseph  with  them,  and 
he  ministered  unto  them :  and  they  continued  a  season  in  ward. 

With' these  new  favors  which  God  granted  him,  the  hard 
lot  of  Joseph  was  gradually  improved.  To  be  esteemed,  and  to 
see  that  unlimited  confidence  is  reposed  in  one's  rectitude,  can 
sweeten  even  life  in  a  prison.  Besides  this,  the  supreme  com- 
mand of  the  house  of  his  master,  and  afterwards  the  command 
and  direction  of  the  affairs  of  a  prison,  was  no  small  part  of 
his  education  to  preside  later  in  the  government  of  the  land 
of  Egypt. 

These  two  officers  of  Pharaoh  are  called  "eunuchs"  in  the 
Hebrew  text.  "Such  persons  from  ancient  times  have  been  and 
still  are  employed  in  Oriental  courts,  as  the  guards  and  attend- 
ants in  harems;  and  others  of  the  same  class  often  hold  offices 
of  even  greater  importance.  They  are  frequently  cowardly, 
jealous,  intriguers,  and  the  instruments  of  despots  and  liber- 
tines, ready  for  every  evil  work;  being  shameless  and  cruel. 
They  are  also  peculiarly  disposed  to  melancholy,  and,  as  the 
only  means  of  ridding  themselves  of  the  insupportable  burden 
of  life,  to  suicide.  Eunuchs  are  a  natural  consequence  of 
polygamy,    and    are    numerous    in    Oriental    cities.      In    ancient 


450  GENESIS 

Rome  there  were  many;  as  also  in  Greece  during  the  Byzantine 
period.  There  are  even  today  in  Rome  at  least  a  few,  who  sing 
soprano  in  the  Sixtine  Chapel — the  only  example  of  it  to  be 
found  in  Christian  countries."  Schafl's  Bible  Dictionary,  "Eu- 
nuch." This  barbarous  and  cruel  usage,  tolerated  in  Rome  under 
the  very  eyes  of  the  Pope,  is  condemned  by  the  Mosaic  law  in 
every  form.  Deut.  23:  1;  Lev.  21:  20.  Comp.  Lev.  22:  24.  Some 
have  believed,  and  still  believe,  that  in  the  Bible  the  word  is 
often  merely  a  title  of  office,  and  designates  any  officer  of  the 
court.  But  the  better  the  usages  and  customs  of  the  Orientals, 
both  ancient  and  modern,  are  known,  the  more  does  the  opinion 
of  the  learned  incline  to  the  belief  that  the  word  ought  always 
to  be  understood  in  its  strict  and  natural  sense.  For  me,  the 
most  conclusive  proof  that,  with  use  and  custom,  the  Hebrew 
word  saris  came  to  acquire  the  secondary  sense  of  "chamber- 
lain," or  any  officer  of  the  court,  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
in  one  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  of  most  recent  date  (1  Chron. 
28:  1),  composed  probably  at  the  time  of  the  Babylonish  cap- 
tivity, or  yet  later  (see  1  Chron.  3:  19 — 21),  "eunuchs"  are 
mentioned — ("chamberlains"  in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version, 
"officers"  in  the  English  Versions)  among  tJie  principal  men  of 
the  court  of  David;  and  we  can  hardly  bring  ourselves  to  be- 
lieve that  this  infamous  institution  of  Oriental  courts,  in- 
troduced probably  under  the  reign  of  Solomon,  with  his  "seven 
hundred  wives  and  three  hundred  concubines"  (1  Kings  11:  3), 
was  known  in  Israel  in  the  days  of  David. 

We  cannot  tell  what  may  have  been  the  offence  of  these 
officers  of  Pharaoh.  They  were  not  ordinary  prisoners,  but 
state  prisoners;  and  as  it  was  so  that  their  respective  offices 
had  to  do  more  immediately  with  the  person  of  the  king,  they 
were  probably  of  the  privileged  classes  of  the  kingdom,  and  of 
noble  families. 

40:  5 — 19.       THE     BUTLEE     AND     THE     BAKER     OF     THE     KING     DREAM 
DREAMS,    AND    JOSEPH    INTERPRETS    THEM.       (1717    B.    C.) 

5  And  they  dreamed  a  dream  both  of  them,  each  man  his  dream, 
in  one  night,  each  man  according  to  the  interpretation  of  his  dream, 
the  butler  and  the  baker  of  the  king  of  Egypt,  who  were  bound  in 
the  prison. 

6  And  Joseph  came  unto  them  in  the  morning,  and  saw  them, 
and,  behold,  they  were  sad. 

7  And  he  asked  Pharaoh's  officers  that  were  with  him  in  ward  in 
his  master's  house,  saying.  Wherefore  look  ye  so  sad  to-day? 

8  And  they  said  unto  him,  We  have  dreamed  a  dream,  and  there 
is  none  that  can  interpret  it.  And  Joseph  said  unto  them.  Do  not 
interpretations  belong  to  God?  tell  it  me,  I  pray  you. 

9  And  the  chief  butler  told  his  dream  to  .Joseph,  and  said  to  him, 
In  my  dream,  behold,  a  vine  was  before  me; 


CHAPTER  40:  5—19  451 

10  and  in  the  vine  were  three  branches :  and  it  was  as  though  it 
budded,  and  its  blossoms  shot  forth ;  and  the  clusters  thereof  brought 
forth  ripe  grapes : 

11  and  Pharaoh's  cup  was  in  my  hand;  and  I  took  the  grapes, 
and  prossod  them  into  Pharaoh's  cup,  and  I  gave  the  cup  into 
Pharaoh's  hand. 

12  And  Joseph  said  unto  him,  This  is  the  interpretation  of  it: 
the  three  branches  are  three  days ; 

13  within  yet  three  days  shall  Pharaoh  lift  up  thy  head,  and 
restore  thee  unto  thine  office :  and  thou  shalt  give  Pharaoh's  cup  into 
his  hand,   after  the  former  manner   when  thou  wast   his  butler. 

14  But  have  me  in  thy  remembrance  when  it  shall  be  well  with 
thee,  and  show  kindness,  I  pray  thee,  unto  me,  and  make  mention 
of  me  unto  Pharaoh,  and  bring  me  out  of  this  house : 

15  for  indeed  I  was  stolen  away  out  of  the  land  of  the  Hebrews : 
and  here  also  liave  I  done  nothing  that  they  should  put  me  into  the 
dungeon. 

16  When  the  chief  baker  saw  that  the  interpretation  was  good, 
he  said  unto  Joseph,  I  also  was  in  my  dream,  and,  behold,  three 
baskets  of  white  bread  were  on  my  head : 

17  and  in  the  uppermost  basket  there  was  of  all  manner  of  baked 
food  for  Pharaoh  ;  and  the  birds  did  eat  them  out  of  the  basket  upon 
my  head. 

18  And  Joseph  answered  and  said,  This  is  the  interpretation  there- 
of :  the  three  baskets  are  three  days ; 

19  within  yet  three  days  shall  Pharaoh  lift  up  thy  head  from  off 
thee,  and  shall  hang  thee  on  a  tree ;  and  the  birds  shall  eat  thy  flesh 
from  ofE  thee. 

Dreams,  In  those  days  in  which  there  was  no  written  reve- 
lation, and  when  God  often  revealed  himself  by  means  of  them 
(Num.  12:  6),  performed  a  very  important  part  in  the  life  of 
Joseph,  as  we  have  seen,  and  shall  continue  to  see.  With  re- 
gard to  a  prophet  who  was  such  by  oiBBce,  the  case  was  very 
clear;  the  prophet  had  as  intimate  knowledge  and  security 
of  the  fact,  when  God  spoke  to  him  in  dreams,  as  when  he 
spoke  to  him  in  any  other  way.  In  the  case  of  those  who 
were  not  prophets,  a  deep  and  lively  impression,  accompanied 
by  an  insatiable  desire  to  understand  the  dream,  might  well 
serve  the  divine  purpose;  which  in  this  case  was  to  open 
the  way  for  the  liberation  and  promotion  of  Joseph.  In  the 
case  of  Pharaoh,  in  the  following  chapter  (ch.  41:  8),  the  Hebrew 
text  may  be  literally  translated,  "in  the  morning  his  spirit  was 
pounded^  as  by  the  blows  of  a  hammer;  that  is,  was  agitated 
and  troubled. 

We  see  in  vrs.  6  and  7  a  proof  of  Joseph's  zealous  fulfilment 
of  his  new  duties,  as  the  keeper  of  the  prison,  and  a  proof  of 
his  humane  spirit,  in  the  interest  he  manifested  in  the  wel- 
fare of  every  one  of  the  prisoners  committed  to  his  care,  and 
in  his  anxiety  to  alleviate  the  painful  concern  which  at  any 
time  he  noticed  in  their  troubled  faces.  We  do  not  know 
whether  Joseph  possessed  the  gift  of  interpreting  those  notable 
dreams  of  his  own  when   he  dreamed  them    (ch.   37:  5 — 11);    it 


452  GENESIS 

is  probable  that  he  had  a  strong  suspicion  of  their  meaning 
when  he  related  them  to  his  father  and  brothers,  and  that 
this  softened  or  removed  the  appearance  of  self-conceit,  or 
presumption,  which  his  conduct  might  otherwise  wear  to  us; 
but  In  the  years  of  his  long  affliction  and  of  his  unjust  im- 
prisonment, it  is  certain  that  the  spirit  of  inspiration  would 
open  to  him  the  meaning  of  his  own  dreams,  for  his  comfort 
and  support;  and  this  would  give  him  greater  confidence  to 
interpret  the  dreams  of  others;  it  is  hardly  possible  that  he 
should  have  the  gift  of  interpreting  the  dreams  of  others,  with- 
out being  able  to  penetrate  the  meaning  of  his  own.  To  these 
dreams  the  Psalmist  probably  refers  in  Ps.  105:  19: 

"Until  the  time  that  his  word  was  fulfilled, 
the  promise  of  Jehovah  tried  his  (faith)." 

— Mod.  Span.  Vers. 

However  that  may  be,  God  communicated  to  him  on  this 
occasion  the  greatest  assurance,  not  only  that  "interpretations 
belong  unto  God,"  but  that  God  had  imparted  to  him  the  gift  of 
Interpreting  them  with  infallible  certainty.  The  dream  of  each 
of  the  two  had  to  do  with  his  peculiar  office;  and  from  them 
any  person  moderately  clever  would  be  able  to  draw  a  specious 
meaning.  The  merit  of  the  thing  consisted  in  drawing  from 
them  a  true  and  certain  sense,  and  in  declaring  it  with  a  con- 
fidence which  is  born  of  absolute  assurance.  This  Joseph  had, 
and  when  the  butler  declared  to  him  his  dream,  he  without 
hesitation  told  him  that  his  dream  signified  that  within  three 
days  Pharaoh  would  show  him  his  former  favor,  so  that  he  would 
be  restored  to  his  old  place  of  honor  and  confidence;  and  Joseph 
did  not  lose  the  opportunity  of  charging  him  that  in  the  day 
of  such  good  fortune  to  himself,  he  should  not  forget  the  He- 
brew prisoner,  but  make  favorable  mention  of  him  before  the 
king,  and  have  him  taken  out  of  that  dungeon  where  he  so  un- 
justly suffered. 

The  chief  of  the  bakers,  who  was  listening  with  hungry 
Boul  to  this  beautiful  interpretation,  took  confidence  from  it  to 
relate  with  freedom  his  dream;  but  a  cruel  undeceiving  awaited 
the  poor  man.  In  both  cases  "to  lift  up  the  head"  means  to  say 
to  distinguish  some  individuals  among  the  rest,  or  to  bestow 
on  him  a  special  attention,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil  (vr. 
20) ;  so  that  in  the  one  case  it  was  for  good  to  the  butler, 
but  in  the  other  it  was  to  bring  capital  punishment  on  the 
baker.  Nevertheless,  in  vr.  19  "he  shall  lift  up  thy  head  from, 
off  thee"  seems  to  carry  in  it  the  idea  of  to  take  away,  and 


CHAPTER  40:  20—23  453 

thus  would  seem  to  imply  decapitation,  before  the  body  was 
hung  on  the  tree.  The  words  of  Joseph  seem  to  us  very  hard 
and  dry,  in  making  so  heart-rending  an  announcement;  but 
It  is  that  the  Bible  does  not  make  use  of  those  embellishments 
and  delicate  shadings  of  thought  which  are  so  necessary  in 
merely  human  writings;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  Joseph,  who 
looked  so  humanely  after  his  prisoners,  and  hastened  to  dis- 
sipate any  shadow  which  he  saw  on  their  troubled  faces,  would 
not  fail  to  give  to  this  unfortunate  man  the  comfort  and  sympathy 
of  which  his  case  admitted. 

[Note  28. — On  the  use  of  wine  in  Egypt.  At  a  time  not  very 
remote  unbelievers  and  infidels  declared  this  story  to  be  false, 
confidently  alleging  that  the  vine  and  grapes  were  not  known 
In  Egypt;  but  since  that  time  the  representations  that  are 
found  on  the  monuments  of  Egypt  have  come  to  confirm  the 
exact  correctness  of  the  Bible,  furnishing  us  as  they  do  with 
pictorial  proofs  that  the  vine  and  its  fruit  abounded  there. 
"With  equal  lack  of  reason,  some  would  draw  from  vrs.  9,  10,  11, 
that  in  Egypt  wine  was  unknown,  and  that  even  kings  drank 
only  the  juice  of  the  grape  newly  expressed  by  the  cupbearer. 
But  the  proof  alleged  is  aside  from  the  truth.  From  the  days 
of  Noah  (ch.  9:  20,  21),  and  probably  before  that,  the  art  of 
converting  grapes  into  wine  was  well  known;  and  the  monu- 
ments of  Egypt  present  us  with  pictures  vividly  portraying 
not  only  vines  and  grapes,  but  wine-presses  also,  and  men  who 
trod  the  grapes  with  their  feet,  to  express  the  juice,  for  the 
purpose  of  making  wine.  See  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary;  Articles 
on  the  Vine  and  Wine.'i 
40:  20 — 23.      the    outcome    of    the    case    on    the    THreo    day. 

20  And  it  came  to  pass  the  third  day,  which  was  Pharaoh's  birth- 
day, that  he  made  a  feast  unto  all  his  servants :  and  he  lifted  up  the 
head  of  the  chief  butler  and  the  head  of  the  chief  baker  among  his 
servants. 

21  And  he  restored  the  chief  butler  unto  his  butlership  again ;  and 
he  gave  the  cup  into  Pharaoh's  hand  : 

22  but  he  hanged  the  chief  baker :  as  Joseph  had  interpreted  to 
them. 

23  Yet  did  not  the  chief  butler  remember  Joseph,  but  forgat  him. 

As  Joseph  had  interpreted  the  dreams,  so  it  happened  on 
the  birthday  of  Pharaoh,  which  occurred  three  days  afterwards. 
It  is  interesting  to  observe  here  the  first  notice  that  we  have 
in  the  Bible  of  the  observance  of  birthday  celebrations. 

The  chief  of  the  butlers,  nevertheless,  in  his  day  of  good 
fortune,  forgot  Joseph,  or  at  least  he  regarded  it  as  convenient 
to   risk  nothing  of  the   good   which  he  had,   in   order   to   do  a 


454  GENESIS 

favor  to  an  unfortunate  fellow.  That  is  to  say,  he  loas  politic 
— a  policy  which  is  much  in  vogue  till  today,  among  those  who 
regard  themselves  as  "knowing  much  of  the  world."  So  selfish 
is  the  human  heart!  Joseph  without  doubt,  in  those  two  years 
of  misfortune  which  followed  this  disappointed  hope,  many 
a  time  reproached  the  forgetfulness  and  ingratitude  of  Pharaoh's 
chief  butler;  but  if  he  had  done  his  utmost  to  liberate  Joseph, 
and,  as  a  man  of  influence,  had  obtained  his  purpose  and  se- 
cured a  place  of  honor  and  profit  for  Joseph  in  the  court  of 
Pharaoh,  Jacob's  pious  son  would  no  doubt  have  received  it 
as  a  signal  mercy  which  his  God  had  granted  him;  but  the 
Joseph  of  sacred  history  would  never  have  come  on  the  stage 
of  action;  his  part  in  the  drama  of  Divine  Providence  would 
have  been  spoiled!  If  one  year,  or  one  month,  or  even  one 
day  before  the  time  appointed  by  God  for  the  realization  of 
his  plans,  Joseph  had  obtained  justice  and  favor,  he  would 
have  passed  into  oblivion.  The  most  glorious  distinction  of 
Joseph  was  that  he  performed  just  the  part  to  which  God 
had  destined  him.    Let  us  learn  the  lesson. 

"It  is  good  to  hope,  and  silently  to  wait  for  the  salvation  of 
Jehovah."    Lam.  3:  26.    Mod.  Span.  Version. 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

VBS.  1 — 7.     TWO  YEAES  AFTERWARDS,  PHABAOH  ALSO  DREAMS  DREAMS. 
(1715  B.  C.) 

1  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  two  full  years,  that  Pharaoh 
dreamed :  and,  behold,  he  stood  by  the  river. 

2  And,  behold,  there  oame  up  out  of  the  river  seven  kine,  well- 
favored  and  fat-fleshed ;  and  they  fed  in  the  reed-grass. 

3  And,  behold,  seven  other  kine  came  up  after  them  out  of  the 
river,  ill-favored  and  lean-fleshed,  and  stood  by  the  other  kine  upon 
the  brink  of  the  river. 

4  And  the  ill-favored  and  lean-fleshed  kine  did  eat  up  the  seven 
well-favored  and  fat  kine.     So  Pharaoh  awoke. 

5  And  he  slept  and  dreamed  a  second  time :  and,  behold,  seven 
ears  of  grain  came  up  upon  one  stalk,  rank  and  good. 

G  And  behold,  seven  ears,  thin  and  blasted  with  the  east  wind, 
sprung  up  after  them. 

7  And  the  thin  ears  swallowed  up  the  seven  rank  and  full  ears. 
And  Pharaoh  awoke,  and,  behold,  it  was  a  dream. 

In  the  designs  of  God  time  is  always  an  indispensable  ele- 
ment, and  long  patience  and  imperturbable  confidence  is  most 
necessary  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  faith  in  him.  Jesus  our 
Lord  had  for  a  favorite  aphorism  of  his:  "Mine  hour  is  not  yet 
come."    John  2:4;   7:  6. 

But  at  last  came  the  hour  of  favor  for  Joseph.     Pharaoh  had 


'  CHAPTER  41:  1—7  4B5 

two  dreams,  and  there  was  no  one  to  interpret  them.  In  this 
case  as  in  the  former,  a  quick  and  penetrating  genius  would 
have  been  able  to  draw  from  such  striking  dreams  something 
that  would  wear  the  semblance  of  truth;  but  to  trifle  with  the 
credulity  of  the  king  would  have  been  as  dangerous  to  him, 
as  to  fail  in  their  office  was  to  the  wise  men  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar. Dan.  2:  9.  What  the  king  asked  was  truth,  and  not 
specious  words.  Meanwhile  the  faith  and  patience  of  Joseph, 
his  self-control  and  above  all  his  triumphant  faith  in  Jehovah, 
the  God  of  his  fathers  and  his  prompt  and  affectionate  obedience 
to  his  word  were  gradually  unfolding,  and  constantly  strength- 
ening and  forming  him  for  the  elevated  position  to  which  he 
was  destined;  a  position  and  office  which  demanded  qualities 
of  mind  and  heart  which  were  not  yet  his,  except  in  em*- 
bryo. 

"The  Nile  is  Egypt,"  as  has  been  well  said.  The  country 
is  a  complete  desert,  from  unknown  ages,  with  only  a  narrow 
strip  of  very  fertile  land  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  bounded 
by  rocky  mountains  and  deserts;  and  annually  the  inunda- 
tions of  the  Nile  (which  last  three  or  four  months),  caused  by 
the  rains  that  fall  and  the  snows  that  melt  in  Central  Africa, 
leave  a  very  thin  deposit  of  alluvial  soil,  with  abundant  humidity, 
on  lands  which  would  otherwise  be  a  sterile  sand-bed.  The 
gradual  rise  of  the  waters,  due  to  the  enormous  distance  from 
which  they  come  (for  it  does  not  rain  in  Egypt),  prevents  the 
inundations  from  becoming  freshets  which  would  desolate  and 
destroy  the  land.  When  there  are  copious  rains  in  Central 
Africa,  the  Nile  rises  sufficiently  to  inundate  that  narrow  strip 
on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  the  crops  are  superabundant; 
but  when  the  waters  fail,  the  Nile  does  not  overflow  its  banks, 
and  there  is  neither  seed-sowing  nor  harvest.  In  lower  Egypt, 
the  river  is  divided  into  numerous  branches,  and  discharges 
its  waters  Into  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  through  many  mouths. 
There  was  necessarily  much  reed-grass  in  the  low  and  marshy 
places;  which  forms  the  back-ground  for  Pharaoh's  first  dream. 

So  Pharaoh's  first  dream  had  to  do  with  cows  coming  out 
of  the  river,  and  they  fed  in  the  reed-grass;  seven  of  them, 
beautiful,  sleek  and  loaded  with  flesh;  and  after  them  seven 
other  cows,  which  came  up  out  of  the  river  also,  ill-favored  and 
lean-fleshed  to  the  last  degree,  and  they  ate  up  the  seven  first 
fat  cows,  without  improving  in  the  least  their  own  leanness. 
Both  kinds  came  up  out  of  the  river,  not  because  this  is  the 
usage  of  cows,  but  because  the  years  of  good  and  bad  har- 
vests which   they  represented,   depended    entirely   on   the   river. 


456  GENESIS  • 

The  second  dream  had  to  do  with  wheat,  the  principal  prod- 
uct of  Egypt,  which  was  formerly  called  the  granary  of  Italy. 
This  kind  of  wheat  is  still  found  in  Egypt — seven  heads  on 
a  single  stem.  Pharaoh  saw  in  his  dream  seven  extremely  beau- 
tiful heads  which  came  up  on  the  same  stalk,  or  stem  (it 
is  said  to  have  a  solid  stem),  and  after  them  seven  other 
heads,  dry  and  empty;  which  ate  up  the  seven  good  heads. 
It  is  not  the  usage  of  cows  to  eat  cows,  nor  still  less  of  heads 
of  wheat  to  eat  heads  of  wheat;  but  in  this  consisted  the 
peculiarity  of  the  dreams  which  most  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  king;  and  it  filled  him  with  impatience  and  concern  to  know 
what  significance  so  singular  a  double  dream  might  have. 

41;  8 — 13.  AS  THE  KING  COTJLD  NOT  FIND  ANY  INTERPEETER  OP  HIS 
DREAMS,  THE  FORGETFUL  BUTLER  REMEMBERS  JOSEPH,  AND  MAKES 
MENTION  OF  HIM  TO  PHARAOH. 

8  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  morning  that  his  spirit  was  troubled ; 
and  be  sent  and  called  for  all  the  magicians  of  Egypt,  and  all  the 
wise  men  thereof :  and  Pharaoh  told  them  his  dream ;  but  there  was 
none  that  could  interpret  them  unto   Pharaoh. 

9  Then  spake  the  chief  butler  unto  Pharaoh,  saying,  I  do  remem- 
ber my  faults  this  day : 

10  Pharaoh  was  wroth  with  his  servants,  and  put  me  in  ward 
in  the  house  of  the  captain  of  the  guard,  me  and  the  chief  baker: 

11  and  we  dreamed  a  dream  in  one  night,  I  and  he;  we  dreamed 
each  man  according  to  the  interpretation  of  his  dream. 

12  And  there  was  with  us  there  a  young  man,  a  Hebrew,  servant 
to  the  captain  of  the  guard;  and  we  told  him,  and  he  interpreted  to 
us  our  dreams ;  to  each  man  according  to  his  dream  he  did  interpret. 

13  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  he  interpreted  to  us,  so  it  was ;  me  he 
restored  unto  mine  office,  and  him  he  hanged. 

The  two  dreams  evidently  pointed  to  the  same  event,  and 
It  would  have  been  easy  for  the  wise  men  of  Egypt  to  Invent 
some  explanation  which  would  have  been  at  least  plausible 
(as  Nebuchadnezzar  accused  the  wise  men  of  Babylon  of  wish- 
ing to  do  in  like  circumstances,  Dan.  2:  9);  but  either  by  the 
particular  providence  of  God  they  could  not  agree  upon  any- 
thing worth  while  repeating,  or,  as  is  more  probable,  they 
did  not  dare  to  venture  on  conjectures  where  the  king  demanded 
certain  knowledge;  so  that  the  forgetful  butler  of  Pharaoh 
came  to  himself,  and  related  what  had  passed  with  Joseph 
in  the  prison,  two  years  before,  and  the  facility  and  exactness 
with  which  Joseph  had  interpreted  his  dream  and  that  of  his 
unfortunate  companion.  Here  we  see  the  hand  of  that  special 
Providence  which  reserved  this  information  for  the  opportune 
moment,  making  use  of  the  culpable  forgetfulness,  or  the 
cowardly  negligence,  of  the  chief  butler  for  that  purpose. 


CHAPTER  41:  14—24  457 

41:  14 — 24.     JOSEPH  is  called,  and  pharaoii  belates  to  him  his 

DREAMS.      (1715  B.  C.) 

14  Then  Pharaoh  sent  and  called  Joseph,  and  they  brought  him 
hastily  out  of  the  dungeon :  and  he  shaved  himself,  and  changed  his 
raiment,  and  came  in  unto  Pharaoh. 

15  And  Pharaoh  said  unto  Joseph,  I  have  dreamed  a  dream,  and 
there  is  none  that  can  interpret  it :  and  I  have  heard  say  of  thee, 
that  when  thou  hearest  a  dream  thou  canst  interpret  it. 

16  And  Joseph  answered  Pharaoh,  saying,  It  is  not  in  me : 
God  will  give  Pharaoh  an  answer  of  peace. 

17  And  Pharaoh  spake  unto  Joseph,  In  my  dream,  behold,  I 
stood  upon  tlie  brink  of  the  river  : 

18  and,  behold,  there  came  up  out  of  the  river  seven  kine,  fat- 
fleshed  and  well-favored ;  and  they  fed  in  the  reed-grass : 

19  and,  behold,  seven  other  kine  came  up  after  them,  poor  and 
very  ill-favored  and  lean-fieshed,  such  as  I  never  saw  in  all  the  land 
of  Egypt  for  badness : 

20  and  the  lean  and  ill-favored  kine  did  eat  up  the  first  seven  fat 
kine : 

21  and  when  they  had  eaten  them  up,  it  could  not  be  known  that 
they  had  eaten  them ;  but  they  were  still  ill-favored,  as  at  the  be- 
ginning.    So   I   awoke. 

22  And  I  saw  in  my  dream,  and,  behold,  seven  ears  came  up  upon 
one  stalk,  full  and  good : 

2o  and,  behold,  seven  ears,  withered,  thin,  a?id  blasted  with  the 
east  wind,  sprung  up  after  them : 

24  and  the  thin  ears  swallowed  up  the  seven  good  ears :  and  I 
told  it  unto  the  magicians :  but  there  was  none  that  could  declare  it 
to  me. 

With  all  haste  Joseph  was  called  from  the  prison,  or  dungeon, 
and  having  shaved  and  changed  his  garments,  he  was  presented 
before  Pharaoh.  The  particular  notice  of  shaving,  something 
entirely  foreign  to  the  habits  of  the  ancient  Hebrews,  furnishes 
us  with  an  incidental  proof  of  the  minute  accuracy  of  this 
history,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  monuments  of  Egypt 
today;  where  the  Asiatics  are  represented  with  beards,  and 
the  Egyptians,  and  the  foreigners  admitted  to  their  service, 
are  clean-shaved,  leaving  their  hair  and  beard  to  grow  only 
when  they  were  in  mourning.  The  king  informed  Joseph  that 
he  had  had  dreams  which  his  wise  men  could  not  interpret; 
but  that  he  had  been  informed  of  him  that  he  possessed  the 
faculty  of  interpreting  dreams.  Joseph  answered  him  that 
such  a  faculty  did  not  reside  in  him,  but  that  God  would  give 
to  Pharaoh  an  answer  of  peace.  What  calls  attention  In  all 
this  procedure  on  Joseph's  part,  both  in  the  case  of  Pharaoh 
and  in  that  of  his  two  officers,  is  the  absolute  certainty  he  had 
that  God  was  speaking  by  his  means,  in  interpreting  these 
dreams,  which  were  so  important  in  the  history  of  Joseph, 
and  as  bearing  on  the  cause  and  kingdom  of  God  in  this  world; 
and  in  this  we  see  the  spirit  of  prophecy  which  had  been  given 
iim.     There  was  Bo  place  here  for  conjectures  and  calculation 


458  GENESIS 

of  probabilities.  If  the  dream  was  of  God,  it  is  clear  that 
from  him  also  must  come  the  correct  interpretation;  for  it 
was  not  given  as  a  matter  of  guesswork,  or  a  solution  of 
riddles. 

41:  25 — 36.  Joseph  interprets  the  dreams  of  pharaoh,  and 
with  equal  confidence  gives  him,  unasked,  advice  adequate 
to  the  occasion.     (1715  b.  c.) 

25  And  Joseph  said  unto  Pharaoh,  The  dream  of  Pharaoh  is  one : 

what  God  is  about  to  do  he  hath  declared  unto  Pharaoh. 

26  The  seven  good  kine  are  seven  years ;  and  the  seven  good 
ears  are  seven  years  :  the  dream  is  one. 

27  And  the  seven  lean  and  ill-favored  kine  that  came  up  after 
them  are  seven  years,  and  also  the  seven  empty  ears  blasted  with 
the  east  wind ;  they  shall  be  seven  years  of  famine. 

28  That  is  the  thing  which  I  spake  unto  Pharaoh :  what  God  is 
about  to  do  he  hath  showed  unto  Pharaoh. 

29  Behold,  there  come  seven  years  of  great  plenty  throughout  all 
the  land  of  Egypt : 

30  and  there  shall  arise  after  them  seven  years  of  famine ;  and 
all  the  plenty  shall  be  forgotten  in  the  land  of  Egypt ;  and  the  famine 
shall  consume  the  land ; 

31  and  the  plenty  shall  not  be  known  in  the  land  by  reason  of  that 
famine  which  followeth  ;  for  it  shall  be  very  grievous. 

32  And  for  that  the  dream  was  doubled  unto  Pharaoh,  it  is  be- 
cause th«  thing  is  established  by  God,  and  God  will  shortly  bring  it 
to  pass. 

33  Now  therefore  let  Pharaoh  look  out  a  man  discreet  and  wise, 
and  set  him  over  the  land  of  Egypt. 

34  Let  Pharaoh  do  this,  and  let  him  appoint  overseers  over  the 
land,  and  take  up  the  fifth  part  of  the  land  of  Egypt  in  the  seven 
plenteous  years. 

35  And  let  them  gather  all  the  food  of  these  good  years  that 
come,  and  lay  up  grain  under  the  hand  of  Pharaoh  for  food  in  the 
cities,  and  let  them  keep  it. 

36  And  the  food  shall  be  for  a  store  to  the  land  against  the  seven 
years  of  famine,  which  shall  be  in  the  land  of  Egypt;  that  the  land 
perish  not  through  the  famine. 

Joseph  well  knew  with  whom  he  had  to  do,  and  that  to  deal 
in  conjectures  with  a  king  of  Egypt  would  cost  him  his  life, 
as  soon  as  the  fraud  was  detected;  but  with  absolute  confidence 
that  he  possessed  the  truth,  he  interpreted  the  dreams  as  a 
revelation  of  things  to  come  which,  for  the  purpose  of  secur- 
ing important  ends,  God  wished  to  make  known  to  Pharaoh. 
Joseph  could  not  perceive  the  real  object  of  all  this,  as  we  sea 
it,  nor  in  all  his  life  did  he  come  to  see  it  in  its  entirety  and  in 
its  proper  relations;  nor  was  it  necessary  that  he  should  so 
see  it;  but  he  saw  that  it  was  the  hand  of  God,  although  ha 
could  not  at  that  moment  see  anything  beyond  the  divine  pur- 
pose of  forewarning  the  king  of  an  enormous  calamity  which 
was  about  to  come  upon  the  country,  in  order  that  he  might 
in   good   season   take   suitable    measures    to   prevent   the   utter 


CHAPTER  41:  37— 4C  459 

ruin  of  Egypt.  Joseph  was  very  far  from  imagining  that  the 
family  of  his  father  Jacob  was  more  important  to  God,  and 
to  his  kingdom  in  this  lost  world,  than  all  the  riches  and 
greatness  of  Pharoah  and  his  country.  The  same  thing  hap- 
pens today;  we  see  only  that  part  of  the  web  of  divine  providence 
which  lies  immediately  before  us. 

Such  years  of  abundance  and  of  famine  were  well  known 
in  Egypt,  although  nothing  was  then  known  of  the  cause  of  the 
rising  and  falling  of  the  river  which  made  them.  The  annals 
of  Egypt  relate  many  such  events;  but  in  this  case  the  special 
providence  consisted  in  making  it  known  beforehand,  with  the 
purpose  that  Jacob  and  his  family  might  leave  the  pastoral 
life  of  Canaan,  and  settle  for  several  centuries  in  the  most 
civilized  country  of  the  world;  there  to  be  formed  into  a  nation, 
and  educated  and  trained  in  everything  necessary  to  their 
taking  possession  of  the  country  which  God  had  given  to 
Abraham.  So  Joseph  not  only  interpreted  the  dreams,  but  did 
so  with  such  conviction  of  the  truth  and  certainty  of  the 
Interpretation,  that  he  passed  at  once,  and  without  a  semblance 
of  presumption,  to  give  such  advice  as  was  most  suitable  to 
the  occasion;  this  being  as  truly  inspired  as  the  interpretation 
of  the  dreams.  "Who  but  God  was  able  to  know  beforehand 
the  succession  of  seven  years  of  unexampled  abundance,  fol- 
lowed by  seven  more  years  of  famine,  due  wholly  to  super- 
abundant rains,  or  the  lack  of  them,  in  the  interior  of  Africa, 
3000  or  4000  miles  away  from  Pharaoh  and  his  court? 

41:  37 — 46,  phabaoh  and  his  princes  approve  and  sanction  both 
Joseph's  interpretation  and  his  advice;  and  he  is  placed 
over  all  the  land  of  egypt,  to  carry  into  effect  his  own 

COUNSEL.       (1715   B.   C) 

37  And  the  thing  was  good  in  the  eyes  of  Pharaoh,  and  in  the 
eyes  of  all  his  servants. 

38  And  Pharaoh  said  to  his  servants,  Can  we  find  such  a  one 
as  this,  a  man  in  whom  the  spirit  of  God  is? 

39  And  Pharaoh  said  unto  Joseph,  Forasmuch  as  God  hath  showed 
thee  all  this,  there  is  none  so  discreet  and  wise  as  thou  : 

40  thou  shalt  be  over  my  house,  and  according  unto  thy  word 
ehall  all  my  people  be  ruled :  only  in  the  throne  will  I  be  greater 
than  thou. 

41  And  Pharaoh  said  unto  Joseph,  See,  I  have  set  thee  over  all 
the  land  of  Egypt. 

42  And  Pharaoh  took  off  his  signet  ring  from  his  hand,  and 
put  it  upon  Joseph's  hand,  and  arrayed  him  in  vestures  of  fine 
linen,  and  put  a  gold  chain  about  his  neck ; 

43  and  he  made  him  to  ride  in  the  second  chariot  which  he  had ; 
and  they  cried  before  him,  Bow  the  knee :  and  he  set  him  over  all  the 
land  of  Egypt. 

44  And   Pharaoh   said  unto  Joseph,   I   am   Pharaoh,   and  without 


460  GENESIS 

thee  shall  no  man  lift  up  his  hand  or  his  foot  in  all  the  land  of  Egypt. 

45  And  Pharaoh  called  Joseph's  name  Zaphenath-paneah ;  and  he 
gave  him  to  wife  Asenath,  the  daughter  of  Poti-phera  priest  of  On. 
And  Joseph  went  out  over  the  land  of  Egypt. 

46  And  Joseph  was  thirty  years  old  when  he  stood  before 
Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt.  And  Joseph  went  out  from  the  presence 
of  Pharaoh,  and  went  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt. 

That  same  divine  influence  which  guided  Joseph,  co-operated 
also  to  predispose  Pharaoh's  mind  and  that  of  his  counsellors 
to  believe  the  announcement  and  accept  the  counsel  given; 
and  this  with  as  much  confidence  and  security  as  had  been 
granted  to  Joseph.  It  is  certain  that,  as  the  years  of  abundance 
came  first,  if  that  part  of  the  prediction  had  failed,  which 
Joseph  made  in  relation  thereto,  it  would  have  cost  him  his 
position  and  perhaps  his  life;  but  this  kind  of  guarantee  it 
seems  did  not  enter  into  the  calculations  of  the  king  and  his 
princes.  God  had  his  own  plans  to  carry  into  effect,  and  the 
means  were  not  wanting  to  fulfil  them. 

"As  tbe  (irrigating)   streams  of  water, 
so  is  the  heart  of  the  king  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord; 
whithersoever  [or  to  whatsover]  he  will  he  turneth  it." 

Prov.  21:  1.    M.  S.  V. 

Pharaoh,  therefore,  with  the  approbation  of  his  "servants"  (who 
were  no  other  than  the  most  distinguished  princes  of  his 
court  and  kingdom),  appointed  Joseph  governor  of  all  the  land 
of  Egypt,  and  endowed  him  with  ample  power  to  carry  into 
effect  the  measures  which  he  himself  bad  advised,  referring 
it  all  to  God;  in  the  security  that,  as  God  had  given  him  to 
know  so  much,  he  would  likewise  attend  him  with  strength 
and  wisdom  to  put  it  into  execution.  He  changed  his  name, 
and  converted  the  Hebrew  slave  into  an  Egyptian  prince.  The 
signification  of  his  new  name  is  doubtful.  The  rabbins  under- 
stand that  it  is  a  Hebrew  word,  and  signifies  "Revealer  of 
what  is  secret";  others  understand  that  it  is  an  Egyptian  word, 
and  others  still  that  it  is  Coptic,  and  signifies  "Saviour  of  the 
world,"  or  "Upholder  of  the  age." 

He  at  once  appointed  him  as  hie  prime  minister,  and  governor 
of  all  the  land  of  Egypt;  and  taking  off  from  his  hand  his 
signet  ring,  he  gave  it  to  Joseph;  thus  clothing  with  his  royal 
authority  all  Joseph's  edicts  and  providences;  the  seal  of 
Pharaoh  being  really  his  official  signature,  in  those  days  in 
which  the  art  of  writing  was  limited  to  a  small  number  of 
persons;  for  which  reason  the  seal  was  ordinarily  carried  se- 
cured to  the  owner's  person  by  a  cord,  as  in  the  case  of  Judah 
(ch.  38:  18,  25);   or  engraved  on  a  signet  ring,  which  was  car- 


CHAPTER  41:  37—46  461 

Tied  on  the  finger,  as  here.  Comp.  Esth.  3:  10;  8:2,  8,  10.  He 
clothed  him  with  a  vesture  of  fine  white  linen,  in  a  style  suit- 
able to  his  elevated  rank,  and  put  a  golden  chain  about  his 
neck,  and  made  him  to  ride  forth  in  the  second  chariot  of 
state  which  he  had,  in  order  that  he  might  go  abroad  with 
public  acknowledgment  into  all  parts  of  the  country,  making 
proclamation  before  him:  "Bow  the  knee!"  placing  him  thus 
over  all  the  land  of  Egypt.  In  this  sudden  and  unlooked-for 
way  was  the  elevation  of  Joseph  effected  by  the  particular  provi- 
dence of  God,  in  whose  hand  are  the  hearts  of  men,  to  turn 
them  to  the  fulfilment  of  his  high  designs;  as  the  husbandman. 
In  irrigating  his  land,  turns  the  streams  of  water,  with  his 
hoe  or  with  his  foot,  to  any  part  that  he  pleases.  In  the  same 
way,  and  quite  as  suddenly,  Mordecai  the  Jew  was  elevated  in 
the  court  of  the  Ahasuerus,  king  of  Persia,  when  God  wished 
to  protect  his  people,  and  defend  the  cause  of  his  kingdom 
In  the  world,  at  the  very  time  that  the  impious  Haman  had 
everything  arranged  for  their  complete  extermination.  When 
any  great  emergency  calls  for  it,  God  still  moves  and  directs 
the  hearts  and  counsels  of  men  in  the  most  surprising  way; 
as  in  these  days  of  the  Boxer  uprising  (Sept.  to  Nov.  1900)  he 
Is  doing  it  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  his  cause  in  the  great 
Chinese  Empire. 

The  infidels  and  unbelievers  who  say  that  all  this  is  a  tissue 
of  incredible  stories,  and  that  no  king  would  be  capable  of 
acting  in  this  manner,  do  but  expose  their  ignorance  (or  for- 
getfulness)  of  the  usages  of  the  despotic  kings  of  the  East. 
Instead  of  being  incredible,  these  things  are  entirely  in  keeping 
with  many  undeniable  facts,  and  are  so  true  to  Oriental  life, 
that  the  poets  and  inventors  of  stories  and  rehearsers  of  legends 
among  the  Turks  and  Arabians  delight  in  just  this  class  of  sud- 
den transformations;  as  any  one  may  see  for  himself  in  the 
"Thousand  and  one  Nights." 

But  even  so,  Pharaoh  well  knew  that  this  sudden  outburst 
of  enthusiastic  consent  to  the  elevation  of  Joseph  could  not 
of  itself  last  long;  and  that  to  see  a  man  of  thirty  years  of 
age,  a  foreigner,  and  an  ex-slave  also,  taken  out  of  the  prison 
to  rule  over  princes,  would  ultimately  cause  such  a  storm  of 
opposition  that  even  the  absolute  power  of  a  Pharaoh  would 
not  be  sufficient  to  render  Joseph's  position  secure  in  such  a 
charge.  He  took  care,  therefore,  to  marry  him  into  the  most 
distinguished  and  powerful  family  in  his  kingdom,  that  of  the 
priest-prince  of  On  (called  Heliopolis  by  the  Greeks).  The 
name  of  this  priest   is  so  much   like  that  of  Joseph's  former 


462  GENESIS 

master,  that  some  have  brought  themselves  to  believe  that  it 
was  into  his  family  that  Pharaoh  made  the  ex-slave  to  marry; 
but  if  the  names  are  similar,  the  offices  were  so  different  that 
one  and  the  same  person  could  not  fill  them  both;  even  if  Potiphar 
had  a  family  of  his  own. 

Joseph  therefore,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  was  constituted  governor 
of  the  land  of  Egypt,  second  only  to  Pharaoh  himself;  and 
he  drove  forth  in  his  chariot  of  state,  as  one  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  whole  kingdom.  Then  began  to  bring  forth  profit- 
able and  plentiful  fruit  those  thirteen  years  of  trial  through 
which  Joseph  had  passed,  since  he  went  out  from  the  home  of 
his  father,  and  of  those  lessons  in  the  art  of  government  which 
he  had  learned  first  as  a  steward,  and  then  as  keeper  (for 
such  he  was  in  fact)  of  a  prison.  Let  the  reader  see  all  this 
as  poetically  set  forth  in  Ps.  105:  16 — 22. 

41:  47 — 49.     the   seven   years   of   abundant   harvests.      (From 
1715  to  1708  B.  c.) 

47  And  in  the  seven  plenteous  years  the  earth  brought  forth  by 
handfuls. 

48  And  he  gathered  up  all  the  food  of  the  seven  years  which  were 
in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  laid  up  the  food  in  the  cities :  the  food  of 
the  field,  which  was  round  about  every  city,  laid  he  up  in  the  same. 

49  And  Joseph  laid  up  graiu  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  very  much, 
until  he  left  off  numbering ;  for  it  was  without  number. 

The  seven  years  of  extraordinary  abundance  began  at  once; 
but  instead  of  wasting  the  produce  of  the  land,  or  selling  it 
to  the  countries  around,  Joseph  began  without  loss  of  time  to 
gather  up  and  store  the  fifth  part  of  it,  arranging  that  every 
city  should  serve  as  a  place  of  deposit  for  the  harvest  of  the 
fields  around  it.  In  order  to  do  this,  a  firm  hand  was  necessary, 
a  faith  in  the  divine  oracle  that  was  proof  against  all  tempta- 
tion, and  a  very  deep  conviction  of  the  necessity  that  would 
arise  for  all  of  this  store  of  food;  because  it  was  gathered  up 
in  such  vast  quantities  that  it  might  well  have  come  to  be 
esteemed  of  little  value.  These  treasuries  of  grain  kept  perfectly 
in  that  singularly  dry  climate  of  Egypt,  with  its  burning  deserts 
on  each  side  of  the  narrow  strip  of  fertile  land  that  bordered  on 
the  river. 

With  regard  to  the  right  which  Pharaoh  had  to  take  the  fifth 
part  of  the  produce  of  the  land  in  those  seven  years  of  abundance, 
that  was  entirely  in  keeping  with  the  despotic  government  of 
the  time  and  country,  where  there  was  no  law  except  the  ar- 
bitrary will  of  the  king;  but  the  remaining  four-fifths  was  so 
abundant  that  nobody  would  miss  the  one-fifth  part,  which  they 


CHAPTER  41:  50—52  463 

all  understood  was  gathered  and  deposited  for  the  coming  years 
of  famine.  The  rich  and  well-to-do  might  imitate  Pharaoh  up 
to  a  certain  point,  in  laying  up  grain  for  the  time  of  need; 
but  without  that  general  providence  of  the  king,  the  people  of 
the  country  would  soon  have  perished  with  hunger,  once  the 
famine  set  in. 

41:  50 — 52.    the  family  of  joseph.     (Between  1715  and  1708  b.  c.) 

'50  And  unto  Joseph  were  born  two  sons  before  the  year  of  famine 
came,  whom  Asenath,  the  daughter  of  Poti-phera  priest  of  On,  bare 
unto  him. 

51  And  Joseph  called  the  name  of  the  first-born  Manasseh  :  For, 
said  he,  God  hath  made  me  forget  all  my  toil,  and  all  my  father's 
house. 

52  And  the  name  of  the  second  called  he  Ephraim :  For  God 
hath  made  me  fruitful  in  the  land  of  my  affliction. 

Before  the  years  of  the  famine  began,  the  daughter  of  Potiphera 
had  borne  to  Joseph  two  sons,  to  wit,  Manasseh  and  Ephraim, 
both  of  whom  served  in  their  very  names  as  remembrancers  of 
the  signal  mercies  of  God,  as  seen  in  the  changed  fortunes  of 
Joseph.  This  pious  custom  was  very  common  in  the  days  of 
the  Old  Testament;  but  such  is  the  perversity  of  human  nature, 
that  in  most  cases  It  came  to  be  little  better  than  a  profanation 
of  holy  things;  and  many  of  the  most  villainous  wretches  made 
this  vain  show  of  pious  names. 

41:53 — 57.    the  sevex  years  of  famixe  began  to  come.    (1708  b.  c.) 

53  And  the  seven  years  of  plenty,  that  was  in  the  land  of 
Egypt,  came  to  an  end. 

54  And  the  seven  years  of  famine  began  to  come,  according  as 
Joseph  had  said  :  and  there  was  famine  in  all  lands ;  but  in  all  the 
land  of  Egypt  there  was  bread. 

55  And  when  all  the  land  of  Egypt  was  famished,  the  people 
cried  to  Pharaoh  for  bread :  and  Pharaoh  said  unto  all  the  Egyptians, 
Go  unto  .Joseph  ;  what  he  saith  to  you,  do. 

56  And  the  famine  was  over  all  the  face  of  the  earth :  and 
Joseph  opened  all  the  store-houses,  and  sold  unto  the  Egyptians ;  and 
the  famine  was  sore  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 

57  And  all  countries  came  into  Egypt  to  Joseph  to  buy  grain, 
because  the  famine  was  sore  in  all  the  earth. 

The  prediction  of  Joseph,  when  he  interpreted  the  dreams 
of  the  king,  continued  to  fulfil  itself  year  after  year  for  seven 
consecutive  years;  but  when  they  ceased,  and  the  years  of 
famine  began  to  come,  the  last  vestige  of  doubt  was  removed 
from  the  most  incredulous  mind.  The  Nile  did  not  rise  at 
its  proper  season,  the  customary  inundations  did  not  come, 
and  the  seed-sowing  could  not  be  made,  because  in  Egypt  It 
does  not  rain;  and  every  hope  of  a  harvest  depends  on  the 
inundation   (which  for  three  or  four  months  of  the  year  over- 


464  GENESIS 

flows  the  harvest  land),  and  of  necessary  consequence  there  was 
no  harvest:  and  this  happened  year  after  year  for  the  space 
of  seven  years;  although  it  is  possible  that  when  the  providential 
design  had  been  accomplished,  the  famine  became  less  rigorous 
toward  the  conclusion  of  the  seven  years,  until  at  last  the  cus- 
tomary rains  again  fell  in  Central  Africa,  followed  by  the 
rise  of  the  river,  the  inundations  of  the  land,  and  the  abundant 
harvests  of  former  years;  for  Egypt  was  always  celebrated  for 
its  abundant  harvests,  and  was  called,  as  has  been  said,  "the 
granary  of  Italy." 

The  reader  should  remember  that  as  in  Egypt  it  does  not 
rain  (except  very  rarely,  and  that  along  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea),  and  those  waters  come  a  distance  of  2,000, 
3,000  and  even  4,000  miles,  the  rise  of  the  river  is  very  gradual, 
in  proportion  as  the  rainy  season  in  the  interior  sets  in;  so 
that  there  never  is  "o  freshet"  in  the  river.  On  the  contrary, 
the  waters  of  the  river  rise  constantly  and  gently,  and  remain 
flooding  the  lands  for  several  months;  and  in  many  cases  the 
land  is  sown  upon  the  surface  of  the  waters  (Eccl.  11:  1), 
leaving  the  seed  to  be  covered  by  the  alluvial  soil  which  is 
deposited  from  the  turbid  waters  of  the  river.  At  the  end 
of  the  time  of  the  inundations,  the  waters  fall  as  gradually 
and  gently  as  they  had  risen.  Meanwhile  the  people  occupy 
the  cities  and  villages  built  on  the  hills  and  elevated  lands  (nat- 
ural or  artificial)  of  each  district. 

This  famine  was  general  in  all  the  surrounding  countries. 
If  there  had  been  grass  and  good  harvests  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
Jacob  and  his  family  would  never  have  removed  to  Egypt:  to 
effect  that  removal  was  the  principal  object  of  the  special  provi- 
dence which  sent  Joseph  there  before  them.  To  answer  this 
purpose  it  was  not  necessary  that  the  famine  in  Canaan  should 
last  as  long  as  in  Egypt;  but  it  was  necessary  that  Joseph 
should  be  able  to  say  to  his  brethren  that  the  famine  would 
last  five  years  longer,  in  order  that  they  should  not  excuse  them- 
selves from  seeking  an  asylum  in  Egypt.    Ch.  45:  6. 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

VBS.    1 — 4.       THE    BRETHREN    OF    JOSEPH    GO    DOWN    TO    EGYPT    TO    BUT 
GRAIN.      (1707  B.  C.) 

1  Now  Jacob  saw  that  there  was  grain  in  Egypt,  and  Jacob  said 
unto  his  sons,  Why  do  ye  look  one  upon  anotlierV 

2  And  he  said,  Behold,  I  have  heard  that  there  is  grain  in 
Egypt  •-  get  you  down  thither,  and  buy  for  us  from  thence ;  that  we 
may  live,  and  not  die. 


CHAPTER  42:  5—20  4C5 

3  And  Joseph's  ten  brethren  went  down  to  buy  grain  from 
Egypt. 

4  But  Benjamin,  Joseph's  brother,  Jacob  sent  not  with  his 
brethren;  for  he  said,   Lest   peradventure   harm   befall   him. 

About  two  years  (ch.  45:  6)  of  the  famine  had  passed,  and 
not  only  in  Egypt,  but  in  Canaan  also,  the  resources  of  the 
people  were  exhausted.  In  doubt  and  uncertainty  as  to  what 
they  should  do,  the  sons  of  Jacob,  in  the  expressive  language 
of  vr.  1,  stood  idly  looking  at  each  other.  They  had  intelligence 
that  there  was  grain  in  Egypt,  for  many  from  Canaan  were 
going  down  there  to  buy.  Jacob  and  his  sons  were  rich,  and 
their  supply  of  provisions  would  last  longer  still;  but  although 
they  could  forsee  the  inevitable,  they  yet  hesitated.  Jacob  re- 
proached them  with  their  irresolution,  and  they  at  last  re- 
solved to  go  without  longer  delay.  The  ten  older  sons  went 
down  to  Egypt;  for  Jacob  would  not  consent  that  Benjamin, 
the  only  relic  of  his  mother,  the  beloved  Rachel,  should  go  with 
them,  for  fear  that  some  harm  might  befall  him  there. 

42:  5 — 20.    Joseph  and  his  brethren.     (1707  b.  c.) 

5  And  the  sons  of  Israel  came  to  buy  among  those  that  came :  for 
the  famine  was  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 

6  And  Joseph  was  the  governor  over  the  land ;  he  it  was  that 
sold  to  all  the  people  of  the  land.  And  Joseph's  brethren  came,  and 
bowed  down  themselves  to  him  with  their  faces  to  the  earth. 

7  And  Joseph  saw  his  brethren,  and  he  knew  them,  but  made 
himself  strange  unto  them,  and  spake  roughly  with  them ;  and  he 
said  unto  them.  Whence  come  ye?  And  they  said,  From  the  land  of 
Canaan  to  buy  food. 

8  And  Joseph  knew  his  brethren,  but  they  knew  not  him. 

9  And  Josepli  remembered  the  dreams  which  he  dreamed  of  them, 
and  said  unto  them,  Ye  are  spies:  to  see  the  nakedness  of  the  land 
ye  are  come. 

10  And  they  said  unto  him.  Nay,  my  lord,  but  to  buy  food  are  thy 
servants  come. 

11  We  are  all  one  man's  sons ;  we  are  true  men,  thy  servants  are 
no  spies. 

12  And  he  said  unto  them,  Nay,  but  to  see  the  nakedness  of  the 
land  ye  are  come. 

1.3  And  they  said.  We  thy  servants  are  twelve  brethren,  tlie 
sons  of  one  man  in  the  land  of  Canaan ;  and,  behold,  the  youngest 
is  this  day  with  our  father,  and  one  is  not. 

14  And  .Toseph  said  unto  them.  That  is  it  that  I  spake  unto  you, 
saying.  Ye  are  spies : 

15  hereby  ye  shall  be  proved :  by  the  life  of  Pharaoh  ye  shall 
not  go  forth  hence,  except  your  youncest  brother  come  hither. 

16  Send  one  of  you,  and  let  him  fetch  your  brother,  and  ye  shall 
be  bound,  that  your  words  mav  be  proved,  whether  there  be  truth  in 
you :  or  else  by  the  life  of  Pharaoh   surely  ye  are  spies. 

17  And  he  put  them  all  together  into  ward  three  days. 

18  And  Joseph  said  unto  them  the  third  day,  This  do,  and  live ; 
for  I  fear  God  : 

19  if  ye  be  true  men,  let  one  of  your  brethren  be  bound  in  your 
prison-house ;  but  go  ye,  carry  grain  for  the  famine  of  your  houses : 


4GC  GENESIS 

20  and  bring  your  youngest  brother  unto  me ;  so  sjiall  your  words 
be  verified,  and  ye  shall  not  die.     And  they  did  so. 

In  the  midst  of  many  others  who  were  coming  from  Canaan 
and  other  countries,  the  brothers  of  Joseph,  also  came;  and 
he  knew  them.  The  grain  was  deposited  in  all  the  cities  of 
the  country  (ch.  41:  48),  and  there  it  was  sold  to  the  people 
of  the  land;  but  these  men  came  from  foreign  parts,  and,  as 
foreigners,  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  appear  before  the 
governor,  and  give  an  account  of  themselves,  and  obtain  his 
permission  to  traffic  in  the  country.  Vrs.  9,  13,  34.  Thus  it 
was  easy  and  even  unavoidable  that  Joseph  should  see  his 
brothers  when  they  came  the  first  time;  yet  he  was  expect- 
ing their  coming,  because  from  the  many  who  were  going  down 
to  Egypt,  he  had  learned  that  the  famine  was  severe  in  Canaan. 
So  he  knew  them  at  once,  and  doubtless  he  had  already  arranged 
the  plan  which  he  would  pursue  with  them.  He  took  good 
care  that  it  should  not  in  any  wise  dawn  on  them  that  he 
knew  them;  and  he  therefore  spoke  with  them  through  an  in- 
terpreter, and  affected  towards  them  a  harshness  which  he  did 
not  feel;  treating  them  as  spies  from  foreign  parts,  who  had 
come  to  search  out  the  defenceless  condition  of  the  country,  at  a 
time  of  such  rigorous  famine.  Their  humble  prostration  at 
his  feet,  when  they  presented  themselves  before  him,  reminded 
him  of  the  dreams  he  had  dreamed  about  them — that  of  the 
sheaves,  and  of  the  sun  and  moon  and  eleven  stars  (ch.  37:  5 — 
11);  the  lively  recollection  of  which  rendered  necessary  the  tone 
of  severity  which  he  affected,  in  order  not  to  discover  him- 
self. Before  this  time  Egypt  had  been  invaded  from  Asia,  and 
a  dynasty  called  that  of  the  "Hyksos,"  or  the  "Shepherd  Kings," 
had  seized  upon  the  throne;  and  it  is  believed  that  the  reigning 
dynasty  in  the  days  of  Joseph  was  that  of  these  usurping 
Asiatics.  The  accusation,  therefore,  which  Joseph  made  against 
his  brethren,  that  they  were  spies,  who  were  perhaps  preparing 
another  invasion  of  the  country  in  that  calamitous  time,  was 
the  most  serious  that  could  be  laid  against  them.  Defending 
themselves  against  the  accusation  of  being  spies,  which  might 
have  brought  upon  them  the  most  terrible  consequences,  they 
related  enough  of  their  family  history  to  put  again  to  the 
proof  all  the  self-command  of  Joseph.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that 
they  were  careful  not  to  say  that  Joseph  was  dead,  although 
the  words  "is  not"  ordinarily  had  that  meaning;  as  in  Jer, 
31:  15  and  Matt.  2:  18;  but  it  is  clear  that  it  does  not  have 
that  sense  in  vr.  36,  with  regard  to  Simeon,  whom  their  father 
charged  them  that  they  should  bring  back  with  them  on  their 


CHAPTER  42:  5—20  4G7 

return.  Ch.  43:  14.  Joseph  affected  not  to  believe  their  state- 
ments, and  he  told  them  at  first  that  they  should  not  go  out 
from  thence  until  one  of  their  number  went  and  brought  Ben- 
jamin, that  they  might  thus  prove  the  truth  of  what  they  had  told 
him;   and  meanwhile  he  put  them  in  prison  three  days. 

In  all  this  history  of  the  brethren  of  Joseph,  and  the  re- 
peated journeys  they  made  to  Egypt,  nothing  is  said  of  any 
except  the  sons  of  Jacob,  ten  men,  and  later  eleven,  and  "every 
one  with  his  ass,"  to  carry  the  grain;  without  there  being  any 
allusion  whatever  to  the  numerous  accompaniment  of  dependents 
or  servants  they  carried  with  them.  It  is  important  to  fix 
attention  on  this  peculiarity  of  the  Biblical  narrative,  in  order 
that  in  other  cases  we  may  supply  in  the  interpretation  what 
may  be  wanting  in  the  text.  Ten  asses  well  loaded  (about 
four  or  five  bushels  each)  would  hardly  supply  the  encampment 
of  Jacob  with  breadstuffs  for  a  single  week;  and  yet  it  is  evident 
from  ch.  43:  2 — 10,  that  they  carried  enough  to  last  them  two 
or  three  months;  for  each  journey  occupied  several  weeks,  two 
or  three  in  going,  and  as  many  in  returning.  It  is  therefore 
certain  that  they  carried  with  them  many  servants  and  a  numer- 
ous train  of  beasts  of  burden;  250  or  300  lbs.  (5  bushels  apiece) 
being  a  full  load  for  asses;  no  mention  is  made  of  camels. 

All  this  caravan,  therefore,  stood  idly  waiting  the  three  days 
that  their  masters  were  in  prison.  But  Joseph  remembered 
the  need  of  their  families,  and  changed  his  plan  on  the  third 
day,  retaining  but  one  of  their  number,  and  sending  the  rest 
of  them  to  their  father.  As  the  phrases  "three  days"  and  "on 
the  third  day"  figure  so  notably  in  the  account  of  the  death 
and  resurrection  of  Christ,  it  will  be  very  proper  to  observe  in 
vrs.  17  and  18,  the  vague  and  indeterminate  Hebrew  way  of 
using  the  words.  If  he  had  them  shut  up  three  days,  then  ac- 
cording to  our  usage  it  would  be  the  fourth  day  when  he  changed 
his  plan,  and  keeping  only  one  of  them  in  prison,  sent  the  nine 
to  carry  home  the  provisions  bought,  and  to  bring  Benjamin. 
But  instead  of  this,  they  were  in  prison  two  nights  and  the 
intermediate  day,  together  with  part  of  the  first  and  third 
days — precisely  the  time  that  Jesus  was  among  the  dead;  and 
there  is  no  more  reason  to  accuse  the  Bible  of  inaccuracy  and 
self-contradiction  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other.  In  Spanish 
also  we  say  ordinarily,  or  always:  "in  eight  days,"  for  in  one 
week,  and  "in  fifteen  days,"  for  in  two  loeeks. 

The  words  "I  fear  God,"  in  vr.  18,  must  have  been  extremely 
consolatory  to  these  men,  there  in  Egypt;  however  little  of 
the  fear  of  God  they  themselves  possessed,  and  although  they 


468  GENESIS 

were  then  suffering  the  consequences  of  the  atrocious  crime 
which,  without  any  fear  of  God  whatever,  they  had  committed 
against  the  defenceless  child,  their  brother,  who,  without  their 
knowing  it,  stood  then  before  them. 

42:    21 — 24.      conscience    stricken,    they    accuse    themselves: 

JOSEPH    weeps    at   beholding    THE    SCENE.       (1707    B.    C.) 

21  And  they  said  one  to  another,  We  are  verily  guilty  concerning 
our  brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  distress  of  his  soul,  when  he  be- 
sought us,  and  we  would  not  hear ;  therefore  is  this  distress  come 
upon  us. 

22  And  Reuben  answered  them,  saying,  Spake  I  not  unto  you, 
saying,  Do  not  sin  against  the  child;  and  ye  would  not  hear?  therefore 
also,  behold,  his  blood   is  required. 

23  And  they  knew  not  that  Joseph  understood  them ;  for  there 
was  an  interpreter  between  them. 

24  And  be  turned  himself  about  from  them  and  wept :  and  he 
returned  to  lliem,  and  spake  to  them,  and  took  Simeon  from  among 
them,  and  bound  him  before  their  eyes. 

All  the  business  intercourse  and  the  conversation  which  had 
taken  place  between  Joseph  and  his  brothers  was  by  means  of 
an  interpreter.  Vr.  23.  When  therefore  he  was  not  present, 
they  thought  themselves  secure,  and  spoke  without  reserve  in 
the  presence  of  Joseph.  The  straits  in  which  they  found  them- 
selves vividly  reminded  them  of  those  in  which  they  had  placed 
their  brother  twenty-two  years  before,  and  of  the  passionate 
but  fruitless  appeals  he  had  made  to  them  to  have  mercy 
upon  him.  Reuben  also  exonerated  himself  of  all  part  in  that 
proceeding;  and  yet  in  twenty-two  years  he  had  preferred  to 
keep  the  peace  with  his  brothers,  in  the  matter  of  this  horrible 
secret,  rather  than  relieve  the  mortal  anguish  of  his  aged 
father,  by  telling  him  that  Joseph  was  not  dead,  but  had  been 
sold  into  slavery. 

All  this  passed  before  the  eyes  of  Joseph,  they  believing  that 
he  did  not  understand  them;  and  it  so  deeply  affected  him,  that 
he  had  by  a  great  effort  to  restrain  his  emotions,  lest  his  tears 
should  betray  him  before  the  time.  He  turned  about,  therefore, 
into  his  bed-chamber  (ch.  43:  30),  and  wept  there,  before  he 
was  able  to  take  Simeon  from  among  them  and  bind  him  in  their 
presence,  in  order  to  deliver  him  again  into  prison. 

42:  25 — 28.    the  money  of  each  man  is  restored  to  him,  being 
placed  in  the  mouth  of  his  sack.     (1707  b.  c.) 

25  Then  Joseph  commanded  to  fill  their  vessels  with  grain,  and 
to  restore  every  man's  money  into  his  sack,  and  to  give  them  provision 
for  the  v;ay:  and  thus  wns  it  done  unto  them. 

26  And"  they  laded  their  asses  with  their  grain,  and  departed 
thence, 


CHAPTER  42:  25— 28  4C9 

27  And  as  one  of  them  opened  his  sack  to  give  his  ass  provender 
in  the  lodging-place,  he  espied  his  money ;  and,  behold,  it  was  in  the 
mouth  of  his  sack. 

28  And  he  said  unto  his  brethren,  My  money  is  restored :  and,  lo, 
it  is  even  in  my  sack :  and  their  heart  failed  them,  and  they  turned 
trembling  one  to  another,  saying.  What  is  this  that  God  hath  done 
unto  us? 

It  would  seem  that  the  object  of  Joseph  in  this  procedure 
was  to  multiply  unlooked-for  events,  to  complicate  more  and  more 
the  situation  in  which,  his  brethren  found  themselves,  and  to 
awaken  to  the  highest  degree  their  fears  for  their  own  security. 
They  were  furnished  witti  provisions  for  their  personal  use 
in  the  way,  so  that  an  air  of  mystery  held  them  in  expecta- 
tion of  something,  and  an  experience  of  unlooked-for  favor  wa3 
mingled  with  other  circumstances  that  threatened  them  with 
severe  punishment,  if  not  with  ruin.  This  mixture  of  opposite 
sentiments  greatly  favored  the  purpose  of  Joseph.  Only  one 
of  them  opened  his  sack  to  give  provender  to  his  ass  at  the 
lodging-place;  and  in  spite  of  the  surprise  and  apprehension 
•which  finding  his  money  caused  them,  it  seems  that  the  rest 
did  not  open  their  sacks  till  they  came  to  their  father  (vr.  35), — 
a  journey  of  twelve  to  fifteen  days:  which  brings  us  another 
incidental  proof  that  the  servants  who  accompanied  them,  with 
many  loads  of  grain,  supplied  their  masters  and  their  asses  with 
all  that  they  needed  in  the  long  journey.  Their  exclamation  at 
seeing  with  surprise  and  alarm  the  money  in  the  mouth  of 
the  sack  of  the  one  who  opened  his  at  the  lodging-place:  "What 
is  this  that  God  has  done  unto  us?"  puts  in  a  clear  light  the 
general  belief  of  them  all  that  God  had  begun  to  surround 
them  with  a  net  from  which  with  difficulty  they  would  es- 
cape. 

The  word  "inn,"  in  most  of  our  Bibles,  ought  not  to  induce 
any  reader  to  believe  that  there  was  then,  or  that  there  are 
now,  houses  of  entertainment  in  the  East:  these  were  an  in- 
vention of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  word  "inn,"  even  in  the  New 
Testament  (unless  Luke  10:  24  be  an  exception),  refers  to 
places  supplied  with  water,  and  conveniently  arranged  for 
travelers  and  caravans  to  spend  the  night,  they  carrying  their 
own  provisions  for  the  way;  and  were  and  are  rather  caravan- 
saries than  inns,  where  lodging  and  food  are  furnished  to  all 
■who  ask  and  pay  for  it;  "lodging-places,"  as  said  in  the  text, 
vr.  27. 


470  GENESIS 

42:  29 — 34.    they  acquaint  their  father  jacob  with  what  had 
happened  with  the  governor  of  egypt.     (1707  b.  c.) 

29  And  they  came  unto  Jacob  their  father  unto  the  land  of  Canaan, 
and  told  him  all  that  had  befallen  them,  saying, 

30  The  man,  the  lord  of  the  land,  spake  roughly  with  us,  and 
took  us  for  spies  of  the  country. 

31  And  we  said  unto  him.  We  are  true  men ;  we  are  no  spies  : 

32  we  are  twelve  brethren,  sons  of  our  father ;  one  is  not,  and  the 
youngest^  is  this  day  with  our  father  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 

33  Aiid  the  man,  the  lord  of  the  land,  said  unto  us,  Hereby  shall 
I  know  that  ye  are  true  men :  leave  one  of  your  brethren  with  me, 
and  take  grain  for  the  famine  of  your  houses,  and  go  your  way ; 

34  and  bring  your  youngest  brother  unto  me :  then  shall  I  know 
that  ye  are  no  spies,  but  that  ye  are  true  men :  so  will  I  deliver  you 
your  brother,  and  ye  shall  traffic  in  the  land. 

What  Jacob  most  dreaded  had  actually  happened.  Benjamin 
was  the  youngest  of  all,  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  younger  than 
Joseph;  and  for  this  reason  they  were  accustomed  to  treat  him 
as  the  child  of  the  family,  although  at  this  time  he  could  not 
have  been  less  than  twenty-five  or  twenty-six  years  of  age,  and 
had  several  children;  for  when  a  few  months  later,  Jacob  and 
all  his  sons  went  down  to  Egypt,  Benjamin  carried  with  him 
a  larger  number  of  children  than  any  of  his  brothers.  Ch. 
46:  21.  Jacob  did  not  wish  "little  Benjamin"  (Ps.  68:  27),  to 
pass  out  of  his  sight.  He  had  not  allowed  him  to  go  down 
to  Egypt  with  his  brothers  on  the  first  trip,  for  fear  that  some 
harm  might  befall  him;  and  lo!  the  fatality  of  events  had 
placed  him  in  such  a  position  that  Benjamin  had  of  necessity 
to  go  to  Egypt,  the  second  time;  now,  not  only  to  buy  grain,  but 
to  liberate  Simeon  (who  was  held  as  a  hostage)  from  prison,  or 
from  death. 

42:  35 — 38.  on  seeing  the  monet  of  each  in  the  mouth  of  his 
sack,  jacob  also  is  filled  with  fear,  and  reproaches  his 
sons  with  being  the  authors  of  his  calamities.  he 
resolutely  refuses  to  let  benjamin  return  with  them  to 

EGYPT.      (1707  B.  C.) 

35  And  it  came  to  pass  as  they  emptied  their  sacks,  that,  behold, 
every  man's  bundle  of  money  was  in  his  sack :  and  when  they  and 
their  father  saw  their  bundles  of  money,  they  were  afraid. 

36  And  Jacob  their  father  said  unto  them.  Me  have  you  bereaved 
of  my  children  :  Joseph  is  not,  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will  take 
Benjamin  away :   all  these  things  are  against  me. 

37  And  Reuben  spake  unto  his  father,  saying.  Slay  my  two  sons,* 
if  I  bring  him  not  to  thee:  deliver  him  unto  my  hand,  and  I  will  bring 
him  to  thee  again. 

[*M.  S.  v.,  "two  of  my  sons."  Pee  ch.  46 :  9.] 


CHAPTER  42:  35—38  471 

38  And  he  said,  My  son  shall  not  go  down  with  you ;  for  hia 
brother  is  doad,  and  ho  only  is  loft ;  if  harm  bofall  him  by  the  way  in 
which  we  go,  then  will  ye  bring  down  my  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to 
Sheolt. 

[jA.  V.  and  M.  S.  V.  to  the  grave.] 

If  they  saw  with  surprise  and  dismay  the  money  of  one  of 
their  number  in  the  mouth  of  his  sack  when  he  opened  it  at 
the  inn  (see  ch.  46:  9),  when  they  emptied  their  sacks  at  home 
and  discovered  that  they  all  were  in  the  same  case,  they  naturally 
would  believe  that  somebody  was  working  out  a  scheme  for 
their  ruin; — a  feeling  in  which  their  father  fully  shared;  and 
on  seeing  this  with  his  eyes,  feeling  in  his  trembling  heart  a 
bitter  presentiment  of  the  calamities  which  one  after  another 
were  coming  upon  him,  he  could  not  longer  restrain  himself, 
but  broke  forth  in  bitter  and  sinister  accusations  against  them. 
How  little  did  he  know  (and  how  little  do  we  know  in  like 
circumstances)  of  the  mercies  of  our  God,  who  was  then 
■working  out  precisely  the  result  which  Jacob  most  desired,  and 
carrying  into  execution  the  deep  designs  of  his  own  wise  provi- 
dence; exclaiming  with  Jacob,  as  our  afflicted  and  burdened 
hearts  often  do:     "All  these  things  are  against  me!" 

In  vrs.  37,  38,  we  have  another  portrait  of  the  weak  and  in- 
constant Reuben  (ch.  49:  4),  and  we  see  how  little  weight 
his  most  violent  protestations  had  with  his  father.  Many  of 
our  Versions  say:  "Slay  my  two  sons,  if  I  bring  him  not  back 
to  thee."  But  the  translation  is  not  correct,  although  it  be 
literal;  for  Reuben  had  four  sons  instead  of  two.  Ch.  46:  9. 
The  M.  S.  V.  reads:  "Slay  two  of  my  sons";  what  he  meant 
to  say  was:  "7  will  give  two  lives  for  one'' ;  "I  will  answer  for 
the  life  of  thy  son  with  the  life  of  two  of  mine;" — as  if  with 
the  violent  death  of  two  grandsons  the  venerable  old  man  would 
receive  comfort  and  reparation  for  the  loss  of  Benjamin!  Such 
was  Reuben;  a  man  of  good  instincts,  but  inconstant,  passion- 
ate, without  due  self-command,  and  of  little  weight  with  his 
brothers  and  his  father.  See  ch.  49:  4.  "My  son  shall  not  go 
down  with  you!"  exclaimed  the  old  man;  and  Judah,  "the  prince 
among  his  brethren,"  resolved  to  wait  for  a  better  opportunity 
to  convince  him  of  the  contrary. 

"Ye  will  cause  my  gray  hairs  to  go  down  with  sorrow  to 
the  grave,"  is,  in  the  Hebrew  text,  "to  sheol,"  once  more.  See 
Vote  26  on  "Sheol,"  or  "Hades,"  in  the  comment  on  ch.  37:  35. 
There  it  is  shown  with  abundance  of  evidence  that  "sheol"  or 
"hades"  is  not  a  place,  but  the  psychological  condition  or  state  of 
souls  separated  from  the  body.  Here,  as  it  is  clear  ttat  his  gray 
hairs   could   not   descend    lower   than   the   grave,    it    is   evident 


472  GENESIS 

that  sheol  or  hades  is  not,  as  many  imagine,  a  subterranean 
abode  of  vast  dimensions,  with  different  departments,  separated 
by  impassable  gulfs,  for  different  classes  of  dead  persons;  but 
the  common  state  of  the  dead,  without  any  distinction  between 
good  and  bad,  and  is  equivalent  to  the  "grave"  as  in  the  Mod- 
ern Spanish  Version,  and  in  the  Common  English  Version. 
"SheoV  is  literal  enough,  but  it  does  not  put  the  reader  in 
touch  with  the  mind  of  the  writer  (which  is  the  real  object  of 
a  translation);  and  "Hades,"  as  that  word  is  now  understood 
and  used,  puts  him  even  farther  from  it.  The  notion  that  there 
are  different  departments  for  different  classes  of  dead  persons 
in  hades  or  sheol,  is  I  believe  a  gentile  conceit  borrowed  with- 
out acknowledgment  from  the  mythology  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  and  finds  no  solid  footing  either  in  the  Old  or  the 
New  Testament.  There  is  nothing  in  the  parable  of  the  rich 
man  and  Lazarus  (Luke  16:  19 — 31)  that  even  remotely  sug- 
gests the  idea  that  the  "bosom,  of  Abraham,"  where  Lazarus 
was  "comforted"  after  death,  was  a  certain  department  of 
hades,  in  another  department  of  which  the  rich  man  was  "tor- 
mented." What  the  rich  man  saw  was  not  another  region  of 
hades,  different  from  his  own,  but  A  PERSON — "Abraham  (the 
common  father  of  believers),  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom."  Be- 
sides these  two  persons,  he  did  not  see  anybody;  and  it  is  an 
abuse  of  the  parable  to  suppose,  and  much  more  to  affirm,  that 
"Abraham's  bosom,"  of  which  Jesus  speaks,  was  of  any  more 
ample  dimensions  than  that  of  any  other  father  who  wishes  to 
embrace  and  console  his  afflicted  child;  while  the  emphatic  words 
of  Jesus  himself  assure  us  that  when  he  and  the  penitent  thief 
(or  malefactor)  died,  the  two,  in  that  very  day,  were  together 
in  Paradise.  And  we  know,  by  2  Cor.  12:  2 — 4,  that  "the  third 
heaven"  and  "paradise"  are  one  and  the  same  thing;  and  from 
Rev.  2:  7  we  learn  that  "the  tree  of  life  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
paradise  of  God";  and  it  is  past  all  dispute  that  that  tree  does 
not  flourish  in  subterranean  regions,  nor  amidst  the  shades  of  death. 
[It  may  be  objected  to  the  above  by  some  reader  of  Josephus, 
that  in  his  ''Discourse  to  the  Greeks  concerning  Hades,"  he  de- 
picts minutely  the  whole  thing,  "Abraham's  Bosom,"  and  all! 
And  this  spurious  production  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  proof 
of  the  popular  belief  of  the  Jews  in  Christ's  day,  and  as  ex- 
planatory of  his  allusion  to  Abraham's  bosom,  in  this  parable! 
The  absurdity  of  a  Jew's  instructing  the  Greeks  concerning 
Hades  does  not  seem  to  have  dawned  upon  the  minds  of  such 
persons.  This  invention  of  idle  monks,  which  the  Jews  do  not 
accept,  is  found  in  the  Appendix  to  Whiston's  "Complete  Works 


CHAPTER  43:  1—10  473 

of  Flavins  Josephus" ;  but  in  "The  Genuine  Works  of  Flavins 
Josephus,"  it  is  simply  discarded,  without  even  an  apology  for 
the  omission.  In  the  undisputed  Works  of  Josephus  (Wars  of 
the  Jews,  Book  III,  Ch.  8,  Sec.  5),  he  gives  us  this  testimony 
as  to  the  popular  belief  of  the  Jews  in  his  day  (in  dissuading 
his  soldiers  from  committing  suicide) :  "Do  ye  not  know  that 
those  who  depart  out  of  this  life  according  to  the  law  of  nature 
.  .  .  their  souls  are  pure  and  obedient,  and  obtain  a  most 
holy  place  in  heaven?  from  whence  in  the  revolution  of  ages 
they  are  again  sent  into  pure  bodies;  while  the  souls  of  those 
whose  hands  have  acted  madly  against  themselves  are  received 
by  the  darkest  place  in  Hades?" — Tr.] 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

VBS.    1 — 10.      MUCH   AGAINST   HIS   WILL,   JACOB  HAS   AT  LAST  TO  SEND 
BENJAMIN,     UNDER    THE     GUARANTY     WHICH     JUDAH     OFFEES     HIM. 
(1707   B.   C.) 

1  And  the  famine  was  sore  in  the  land, 

2  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  they  had  eaten  up  the  grain  which 
they  had  brought  out  of  Egypt,  their  father  said  unto  them,  Go  again, 
buy  us  a  little  food. 

3  And  Judah  spake  unto  him,  saying,  The  man  did  solemnly  pro- 
test unto  us,  saying.  Ye  shall  not  see  my  face,  except  your  brother  be 
with  you. 

4  If  thou  wilt  send  our  brother  with  us,  we  will  go  down  and  buy 
thee  food : 

5  but  if  thou  wilt  not  send  him,  we  will  not  go  down;  for  tho 
man  said  unto  us,  Ye  shall  not  see  my  face,  except  your  brother  be 
with  you. 

6  And  Israel  said.  Wherefore  dealt  ye  so  ill  with  me,  as  to  tell  the 
man  whether  ye  had  yet  a  brother? 

7  And  they  said,  The  man  asked  straitly  concerning  ourselves,  and 
concerning  our  kindred,  saying,  Is  your  father  yet  alive?  have  ye 
another  brother?  and  we  told  him  according  to  the  tenor  of  these 
words :  could  we  in  any  wise  know  that  he  would  say.  Bring  your 
brother  down? 

8  And  Judah  said  unto  Israel  his  father.  Send  the  lad  with  me, 
and  we  will  arise  and  go ;  that  we  may  live,  and  not  die,  both  we,  and 
thou,  and  also  our  little  ones.* 

9  I  will  be  surety  for  him  ;  of  my  hand  shalt  thou  require  him : 
if  I  bring  him  not  unto  thee,  and  set  him  before  thee,  then  let  me  bear 
the  blame  for  ever : 

10  for  except  we  had  lingered,  surely  we  had  now  returned  a 
second  time. 

[*M.  S.  v.,  our  families.] 

The  journey  from  Hebron,  where  Jacob  then  lived  (ch.  46:  1), 
to  Zoan  in  Egypt,  where  Joseph  probably  resided,  would  be 
little  if  any  short  of  two  weeks;  and  Judah  said  that  if  they 
had  not  delayed,  since  the  time  Jacob  had  refused  to  send 
Benjamin   with  them,  they   might  have  returned   twice,  or   "a 


474  GENESIS 

second  time";  from  which  we  can  form  some  conception  of  the 
loads  of  grain  which  they  brought  with  them  the  first  time, 
and  of  the  size  of  their  caravan,  in  order  to  supply  moderately 
their  encampment  for  two  or  three  months.  We  see  also  how 
great  must  have  been  the  riches  of  Jacob,  in  order  to  bring 
from  Egypt  grain  in  sufficient  quantity  to  maintain  so  large 
an  encampment  as  his.  Jacob,  who  had  resolutely  refused  to 
send  Benjamin  with  his  brothers,  and  had  delayed  as  long 
as  possible  in  yielding  to  the  inevitable,  had  at  last  to  tell 
his  sons  to  return  and  buy  more  provisions.  Judah,  there- 
fore, told  him  plainly  that  with  Benjamin  they  would  go,  but 
that  they  would  in  no  wise  go  without  him;  because  "that 
man,"  the  governor,  had  solemnly  protested  to  them  that  un- 
less they  brought  with  them  their  younger  brother,  they  abso- 
lutely should  not  see  his  face.  The  poor  old  man,  with  much 
naturalness,  complained  that  they  had  done  him  a  wrong  by 
informing  the  governor  that  they  had  yet  another  brother;  and 
from  the  reply  they  made  him,  we  know,  for  the  first  time,  how 
minutely  Joseph  had  informed  himself  with  regard  to  all  the 
family;  and  they  had  told  him  the  truth,  without  any  suspicion 
that  he  was  going  to  oblige  them  to  bring  Benjamin  into  Egypt. 
Judah  then,  to  very  different  purpose  from  Reuben,  offered  him 
such  reasonable  guaranties  that,  under  the  circumstances,  the 
poor  old  man  could  not  do  less  than  accept  them. 

43:  11 — 14.       AS    THERE    WAS    NO    HELP    FOR    IT,    JACOB    OFVES    ORDERS 
WITH    REGARD    TO    THE    SECOND    JOURNEY;     AND    HE    COMMITS    THE 
AKDUOUS     UNDERTAKING     TO     THE     MERCIFUL     PROVIDENCE     OF     GOD. 
(1707    B.    C.) 

11  And  their  father  Israel  said  unto  them,  If  it  be  so  now,  do  this : 
take  of  the  choice  fruits  of  the  land  in  your  vessels,  and  carry  down 
the  man  a  present,  a  little  balm,  and  a  little  honey,  spicery  and 
myrrli,  nuts,  and  almonds ; 

12  And  take  double  money  in  your  hand;  and  the  money  that  was 
returned  in  the  mouth  of  your  sacks  carry  again  in  your  hand;  per- 
adventure  it  was  an  oversight : 

13  Take  also  your  brother,  and  arise,  go  again  unto  the  man: 

14  And  God  Almighty  give  you  mercy  before  the  man,  that  he  may 
release  unto  you  your  other  brother  and  Benjamin.  And  if  I  be 
bereaved  of  my  children,  I  am  bereaved. 

Of  the  choicest  fruits  (HeJ).  the  song)  of  the  country,  for 
there  was  in  any  case  something  left  although  they  had  no 
harvests,  Jacob  ordered  that  they  should  carry  a  present  to 
the  governor— "that  man,"  so  terrible  for  Jacob— with  a  double 
quantity  of  money,  and  besides  this,  the  money  returned  in 
their  sacks,  and  that,  taking  with  them  their  brother  Benjamin, 


CHAPTER  43:  15—25  475 

they  should  return  to  Egypt:  and  he  commended  them  to  God, 
praying  that  he  would  grant  them  mercy  before  "that  man," 
in  order  that  he  might  loose  Simeon  and  restore  Benjamin; 
resigning  himself  to  the  inevitable,  if  after  all,  he  was  to  be 
deprived  of  his  sons:  "If  I  am  bereaved  of  my  children,  I  am 
bereaved!"  This  celebrated  saying  of  Jacob  is  very  like  to  that 
other  which  was  used  by  Queen  Esther  (and  it  was  dictated  by 
the  same  emotions),  when  she  exposed  herself  to  death,  in  order 
to  deliver  her  people,  by  going  uncalled  into  the  presence  of  king 
Ahasuerus;  ordaining  that  all  the  Jews  in  the  metropolis  should 
pray  for  her  (because  fasting  there  is  tantamount  to  prayer), 
adding,  "And  if  I  perish,  I  perish!"     Esth.  4:  16. 

43:  15 — 25.     anotheb   painful   surprise   fob   the   brothers    of 

JOSEPH.       (1707   B.    c.) 

15  And  the  men  took  that  present,  and  they  took  double  money  in 
their  hand,  and  Benjamin ;  and  rose  up,  and  went  down  to  Egypt,  and 
stood  before  Joseph. 

IG  And  when  Joseph  saw  Benjamin  with  them,  he  said  to  the 
steward  of  his  house,  bring  the  men  into  the  house,  and  slay,  and 
make  ready ;  for  the  men  shall  dine  with  me  at  noon. 

17  And  the  man  did  as  Joseph  bade ;  and  the  man  brought  the 
men  to  Joseph's  house, 

18  And  the  men  were  afraid,  because  they  were  brought  to  Joseph's 
house ;  and  they  said,  Because  of  the  money  that  was  returned  in  our 
sacks  at  the  first  time  are  we  brought  in  :  that  he  may  seek  occasion 
against  us,  and  fall  upon  us,  and  take  us  for  bondmen,  and  our  asses. 

19  And  they  came  near  to  the  steward  of  Joseph's  house,  and  they 
spake  unto  him  at  the  door  of  the  house, 

20  and  said,  Oh,  my  lord,  we  came  indeed  down  at  the  first  time 
to  buy  food  : 

21  and  it  came  to  pass,  when  we  came  to  the  lodging-place,  that 
we  opened  our  sacks,  and,  behold,  every  man's  money  was  in  the 
mouth  of  his  sack,  our  money  in  full  weight :  and  we  have  brought  it 
again  in  our  hand. 

22  And  other  money  have  we  brought  down  in  our  hand  to  buy 
food  :  we  know  not  who  put  our  money  in  our  sacks. 

23  And  he  said.  Peace  be  to  you,  fear  not :  your  God,  and  the  God 
of  your  father,  hath  given  you  treasure  in  your  sacks :  I  had  your 
money.     And  he  brought  Simeon  out  unto  them. 

24  And  the  man  brought  the  men  into  Joseph's  house,  and  gave 
them  water,  and  they  washed  their  feet ;  and  he  gave  their  asses  prov- 
ender. 

25  And  they  made  ready  the  present  against  Joseph's  coming  at 
noon:  for  they  heard  that  they  should  eat  bread  there. 

With  such  precautions  the  men  went  down  into  Egypt  and 
presented  themselves  before  Joseph;  who  when  he  saw  that 
Benjamin  was  with  them,  resolved  to  give  them  a  magnificent 
reception.  He  therefore  ordered  his  steward  to  carry  them 
into  his  house  and  to  prepare  a  banquet,  that  they  might  dine 
with  him  at  midday.  The  word  "slay,"  in  vr.  16  {Heb.  slaughter 
a  slaughter)    indicates  that  it  was   not  an   everyday  affair;    it 


476  GENESIS 

signifies  a  costly  and  abundant  dinner  of  slaughtered  animals, 
in  true  Oriental  style  (Matt.  22:4);  for  the  Egyptians  wor- 
shipped animals  rather  than  ate  them.  But  his  brothers  knew 
nothing  of  these  orders,  and  on  seeing  themselves  taken  into 
the  house  of  Joseph,  they  suspected  some  design  or  plan  to 
entrap  them;  and  going  to  Joseph's  steward  they  began  to  ex- 
cuse themselves  in  reference  to  the  money  which  was  returned  in 
their  sacks,  protesting  their  innocence  of  all  evil-doing.  The 
steward  tranquilized  their  fears,  the  best  he  could,  and  brought 
Simeon  forth  to  them.  He  gave  them  also  water  to  wash  their 
feet,  as  the  guests  of  Joseph,  in  order  that  they  might  pre- 
pare themselves  for  the  banquet  at  midday;  and  he  also  pro- 
vided food  for  their  asses.  In  the  meantime  they  made  ready 
their  present  for  Joseph  when  he  should  return  home.  For  that 
pagan,  it  was  perfectly  in  accord  with  gentile  usages  to  say: 
"Your  God  and  the  God  of  your  father  has  given  you  (hidden) 
treasure  in  your  sacks;"  implying  at  the  same  time  that  their 
God  was  nothing  to  him;  just  as  Laban  had  said  to  Jacob,  in 
ch.  31:  29.  So  the  ancient  pagans  made  no  exclusive  claims 
for  their  own  gods,  but  cheerfully  confessed  the  virtue  and 
power  of  the  gods  of  the  different  nations,  every  one  towards 
his  own  people.  See  1  Kings  20:  23 — 28.  And  no  more  reason- 
able is  the  protest  of  a  multitude  of  persons  we  meet,  that 
Protestantism  may  be  an  excellent  thing  for  Protestant  nations, 
but  is  quite  unsuited  to  Roman  Catholic  countries;  whose  special 
patrons,  for  many  ages  past,  are  Mary  and  the  canonized 
saints. 

43:  26 — 34.    Joseph  comes  at  midday,  and  cei^ebrates  a  banquet 
WITH  HIS  brethren.      (1707  B.  0.) 

26  And  when  Joseph  came  home,  they  brought  him  the  pref3ent 
which  was  in  their  hand  into  the  house,  and  bowed  down  themselves 
to  him  to  the  earth. 

27  And  he  asked  them  of  their  welfare,  and  said,  Is  your  father 
well,  the  old  man  of  whom  ye  spake?     Is  he  yet  alive? 

28  And  they  said,  Thy  servant  our  father  is  well,  he  is  yet  alive. 
And  they  bowed  the  head,  and  made  obeisance. 

29  And  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  saw  Benjamin  his  brother,  his 
mother's  son,  and  said.  Is  this  your  youngest  brother,  of  whom  ye 
spake  unto  me?     And  he  said,  God  be  gracious  unto  thee,  my  son. 

30  And  Joseph  made  haste ;  for  his  heart  yearned  over  his  brother : 
and  he  sought  where  to  weep ;  and  he  entered  into  his  chamber,  and 
wept  there. 

31  And  he  washed  his  face,  and  came  out;  and  he  refrained  him- 
self, and  said,  Set  on  bread. 

32  And  they  set  on  for  him  by  himself,  and  for  them  by  themselves, 
and  for  the  Egyptians,  that  did  eat  with  him,  by  themselves :  because 
the  Egyptians  might  not  eat  bread  with  the  Hebrews ;  for  that  is  an 
abomination  unto  the  Egyptians. 


CHAPTER  43:  26—34  477 

33  Anrl  tlicy  sat  before  him,  the  first-born  according  to  his  birth- 
right, and  the  younsest  according  to  his  youth :  and  the  men  mar- 
velled one  with  another. 

34  And  he  took  a/id  sc7it  messes  unto  them  from  before  him:  but 
Benjamin's  mess  was  five  times  so  much  as  any  of  theirs.  And  they 
drank,  and  were  merry*  with  him. 

*IIeb.  drank  largely. 

That  "present"  about  which  they  were  so  much  concerned  to 
have  it  ready,  would  naturally  be  several  ass-loads  of  the  most 
precious  products  that  yet  remained  to  them  in  Canaan,  after 
two  years  of  famine — bales  or  packages  which  they  left  outside 
the  house  until  the  hour  of  Joseph's  coming,  when  they  were 
brought  inside,  to  be  presented  to  him;  prostrating  themselves 
at  the  same  time  with  their  faces  to  the  earth.  "The  house 
of  Joseph"  was  not  an  isolated  building,  but  a  part,  or  depart- 
ment, of  what  is  called,  in  ch.  45:  16,  "the  house  of  Pharaoh"; 
which  occupied  a  great  many  acres  of  ground,  with  its  edifices, 
its  store-houses,  offices,  barracks,  and  dwellings  for  thousands 
of  soldiers  and  others,  besides  those  who  properly  formed  the 
royal  court.  Compare  "Caesar's  household"  in  Phil.  4:  22.  The 
part  which  is  called  "the  house  of  Joseph,"  where  he  not  only 
lived  with  his  family,  but  dispatched  the  vast  business  of  his 
high  office,  must  have  been  near  to  the  part  occupied  by  Pharaoh 
and  his  family;  for  we  are  told  in  ch.  45:  2,  that  when  Joseph 
could  no  longer  restrain  himself,  but  wept  aloud,  "  the  Egyptians 
heard,  and  the  house  of  Pharaoh  heard."     Ch.  45:  2. 

When  he  had  asked  his  brethren  after  their  welfare  and  the 
health  of  their  father,  he  allowed  his  eyes  to  rest,  seemingly 
for  the  first  time,  on  his  brother  Benjamin,  his  own  mother's 
son;  and  he  asked  if  this  was  the  younger  brother  of  whom 
they  had  spoken;  and  said  to  him:  "God  be  gracious  to  thee 
my  son!"  This  was  now  more  than  Joseph  was  able  to  stand, 
and  he  hastened  to  go  out  before  his  emotions  and  tears  should 
betray  him;  and  entering  into  his  bed-chamber,  he  wept  there. 
Laying  then  a  strong  restraint  upon  himself,  he  washed  his 
face,  and  came  out.  He  then  commanded  the  servants  to  serve 
the  dinner;  which  they  did,  for  him  apart,  for  his  brethren 
apart,  and  for  the  Egyptians  who  ate  with  him  apart;  for,  as 
happens  now  between  the  different  castes  of  Hindustan,  it  was  not 
lawful  for  the  Egyptians  to  eat  with  the  Hebrews.  By  order 
of  Joseph,  his  brethren  were  seated  before  him  according  to 
their  respective  ages;  something  which  called  their  attention 
and  filled  them  with  amazement;  Joseph  arranging  all  the  acts 
of  this  drama  so  that  little  by  little  it  should  dawn  on  them 
that  he  was  the  brother  whom  they  had  sold,  before  they  reached 


478  GENESIS 

the  final  outcome  of  the  affair.  He  himself  served  the  portions, 
or  messes  of  meat,  and  he  honored  his  brother  Benjamin  with 
a  portion  of  food  five  times  greater  than  that  of  any  of  the 
others.  The  same  form  of  honor  was  used  by  Samuel  towards 
Saul,  when  he  commanded  the  cook  to  bring  the  portion  which 
he  had  reserved  for  this  special  guest,  ever  since  the  time  that 
the  people  were  invited;  "and  the  cook  took  up  the  thigh  (or 
shoulder),  with  what  was  upon  it,  and  set  it  before  Saul."  1 
Sam.  9:  24.  The  brothers  of  Joseph  were  at  last  able  to  lay 
aside  their  fears,  and  to  eat,  and  drink,  and  make  merry  with 
him;  which  is  another  proof  that  the  Egyptians  both  made  and 
drank  wine.    See  ch.  40:  11,  and  l>Iote  27. 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

VES.    1,   2.      JOSEPH'S    SILVER  CUP.      (1707   B.   C.) 

1  And  he  commanded  the  steward  of  his  house,  saying,  Fill  the 
men's  sacks  with  food,  as  much  as  they  can  carry,  and  put  every 
man's  money  in  his  sack's  mouth. 

2  And  put  my  cup,  the  silver  cup,  in  the  sack's  mouth  of  the 
youngest,  and  his  grain  money.  And  he  did  according  to  the  word 
that  Joseph  had  spoken. 

But  their  mirth  was  of  short  duration.  The  dinner  was  hardly 
finished  when  Joseph  commanded  his  steward  (a  man  of  con- 
fidence, and  whom  it  is  probable  he  had  informed,  partly  at 
least,  of  his  plan  and  object),  to  fill  the  sacks  with  as  much  as 
they  would  hold,  putting  each  man's  money  into  the  mouth  of 
his  sack,  and  to  place  the  silver  cup  of  his  own  individual  use 
in  the  sack  of  Benjamin;  an  artifice  which  fortunately  they 
did  not  suspect;  for  otherwise,  they  would  have  slept  little  that 
night. 

Joseph's  "silver  cup,"  in  addition  to  other  circumstances  of 
this  history,  seems  to  refute  a  great  part  of  what  some  writers 
allege  as  to  the  luxury  and  splendor  of  the  court  of  the  Pharaohs 
in  the  time  of  Joseph;  affirming  that  it  rivalled  the  European 
courts  of  modern  times.  This  seems  to  me  a  piece  of  pure  ex- 
travagance. Esth.  1:  4 — 7  describes  minutely  the  splendor  and 
extravagant  luxury  of  the  court  of  Persia;  of  which  we  do  not 
find  a  trace  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  when  treating  of  the  court 
of  the  Pharaohs.  TTie  two  'famous  chariots  which  Pharaoh  had 
for  his  personal  use  (ch.  41:  43),  the  second  of  which  he  gave 
to  Joseph,  do  not  suggest  to  us  the  idea  of  any  extravagant 
luxury;  and  this  cup  of  Joseph  likewise,  "his  silver  cup,"  seems 
to  tell  the  same  story.  In  the  days  of  Solomon,  silver  was 
lightly   esteemed;    and   "all   his   drinking   vessels,   and   all   the 


CHAPTER  44:  3—13  479 

vessels  of  the  house  of  the  forest  of  Lebanon  were  of  pure  gold," 
1  Kings  10:  21. 

44:  3 — 13.  JOSEPH'S  cup  is  found  in  benjamin's  sack.    (1707  b.  c.) 

3  As  soon  as  the  morning  was  light,  the  men  were  sent  away,  they 
and  their  asses. 

4  And  when  they  were  gone  out  of  the  city,  and  were  not  yet  far 
off,  Joseph  said  uuto  his  steward.  Up,  follow  after  the  men;  and 
when  thou  dost  overtake  them,  say  unto  them,  Wherefore  have  ye 
rewarded  evil  for  good? 

5  Is  not  this  that  in  which  my  lord  drinketh,  and  whereby  he  in- 
deed di\inetir?  ye  have  done  evil  in  so  doing. 

6  And  he  overtook  them,  and  he  spake  unto  them  these  words. 

7  And  they  said  unto  him,  'Wherefore  speaketh  my  lord  such  words 
as  these?  Far  be  it  from  thy  servants  that  they  should  do  such  a 
thing. 

8  Behold,  the  money  which  we  found  in  our  sacks'  mouths,  we 
hrouubt  again  unto  thee  out  of  the  laud  of  Canaan:  how  then  should 
we  steal  out  of  thy  lord's  house  silver  or  gold? 

9  With  whomsoever  of  thy  servants  it  be  found,  let  him  die,  and 
we  also  will  be  mj'  lord's  bondmen. 

10  And  he  said,  Now  also  let  it  be  according  unto  your  words ;  he 
with  whom  it  is  found  shall  be  my  bondman ;  and  ye  shall  be  blame- 
less. 

11  Then  they  hasted,  and  took  down  every  man  his  sack  to  the 
ground,  and  opened  every  man  his  sack. 

12  And  he  searched,  a7id  began  at  the  eldest,  and  left  off  at  tho 
youngest :  and  the  cup  was  found  in  Benjamin's  sack. 

13  Then  they  rent  their  clothes,  and  laded  every  man  his  ass,  and 
returned  to  the  city. 

At  dawn  of  day  the  men  set  out  on  their  journey.  A  blending 
of  good  and  evil  is  what  Joseph  thought  most  convenient  to 
work  in  them  the  effect  he  desired  to  produce.  They  set  out 
joyfully  and  very  early,  for  everything  had  turned  out  according 
to  their  highest  expectations  and  wishes.  But  scarcely  had  they 
got  outside  of  the  city,  when  Joseph's  steward  overtook  them, 
and  laid  against  them  the  formal  accusation  of  having  com- 
mitted a  robbery  in  the  house  of  his  lord,  returning  evil  for 
good,  in  recompense  of  his  having  admitted  them  into  his 
dwelling  and  to  his  own  table.  They  exculpated  themselves  with 
the  utmost  sincerity,  and  carried  the  protest  of  their  innocence 
to  the  point  of  saying  that  whichever  of  them  was  found 
in  possession  of  the  missing  cup  should  die,  and  all  of  them  would 
be  servants  of  his  lord.  The  steward  accepted  the  proposal,  with 
the  modification  that  none  should  die,  and  that  one  only  should  be 
his  servant — the  man  with  whom  the  cup  was  found.  They  hastily 
took  down  their  sacks  from  their  asses,  while  he  examined  them, 
beginning  with  the  eldest;  and  the  cup  was  found  in  the  sack  of 
Benjamin!     They  therefore,  all  of  them,  rent  their  garments,  in 


480  GENESIS 

token  of  grief  and  desperation;  and  re-lading  their  asses,  they  re- 
turned to  the  city. 

44:   14 — 17.      THEY    PRESENT   THEMSELVES    AGAIN    BEFORE    JOSEPH. 
(1707    B.    C.) 

14  And  Judah  and  his  bretliren  came  to  Joseph's  house ;  and  he 
was  yet  tliere :  and  tliey  fell  before  him  on  the  ground. 

15  And  Joseph  said  unto  them,  What  deed  is  this  that  ye  have 
done?  know  ye  not  that  such  a  man  as  I  can  indeed  divine? 

16  And  Judah  said,  what  shall  we  say  unto  my  lord?  what  shall 
we  speak?  or  how  shall  we  clear  ourselves?  God  hath  found  out  the 
iniquity  of  thy  servants  :  behold,  we  are  my  lord's  bondmen,  both  we, 
and  he  also  in  whose  hand  the  cup  is  found. 

17  And  he  said,  Far  be  it  from  me  that  I  should  do  so :  the  man 
in  whose  hand  the  cup  is  found,  he  shall  be  my  bondman;  but  as  for 
you,  get  you  up  in  peace  unto  your  father. 

Joseph  was  waiting  for  them  in  the  same  place,  and  they  cast 
themselves  at  his  feet,  overwhelmed  with  desperate  affliction. 
Prostrate  thus  before  him,  and  understanding  how  completely 
they  were  in  his  power,  to  mete  out  to  them  life  or  death,  accord- 
ing to  his  will,  as  spies  and  thieves,  Joseph  upbraids  them  with 
their  conduct,  asking  if  they  did  not  know  that  such  a  man  as  he 
must  understand  divination  (an  art  much  practiced  in  Egypt),  so 
as  to  be  able  to  know  of  the  robbery  which  had  been  committed. 
It  seems  almost  an  act  of  cruelty  on  his  part  to  place  his  brother 
Benjamin  in  so  false  a  situation,  even  for  one  hour;  but  his  plan 
did  not  admit  of  any  other  procedure;  and  oftentimes  in  things 
even  more  serious  the  innocent  must  suffer  for  the  guilty. 

Judah  then  began,  and  in  words  of  deepest  feeling  he  manifested 
how  profoundly  all  their  hearts  were  moved  with  the  sense  of 
their  guilt:  "What  shall  we  say  unto  my  lord?  what  shall  we 
speak?  or  how  shall  we  clear  ourselves?  God  hath  found  out  the 
iniquity  of  thy  servants!" — "iniquity,"  which  in  their  mouth  could 
only  refer  to  the  great  crime  committed  against  Joseph  twenty- 
two  or  twenty-three  years  before;  without  even  knowing  (though 
doubtless  they  had  begun  to  suspect  it),  that  that  brother  was 
the  same  man  who  stood  before  them.  This  result,  with  the  con- 
viction and  confession  of  their  sin,  the  plan  of  Joseph  had  ad- 
mirably worked  out  in  them;  and  all  of  them,  the  guilty  together 
with  the  innocent  Benjamin,  surrendered  themselves  at  his  feet 
as  bond-servants.  This  offer  Joseph  solemnly  protested  he  would 
not  accept,  declaring  his  purpose  to  retain  only  the  one  with 
whom  the  cup  was  found,  and  to  send  away  the  rest,  that  they 
might  go  to  their  father  in  peace.  • 


CHAPTER  44:  18— C4  481 

'44:  18 — 34.  the  eloquent  and  soul-moving  argument  with  which 
judah  pleads  with  joseph  to  release  benjamin,  and  retain 
him  as  bond-servant  in  his  stead.     (1707  b.  c.) 

18  Then  .Tudah  came  near  unto  him,  and  said.  Oh,  my  lord,  let  thy 
servant,  I  pray  thee,  speak  a  word  in  ray  lord's  ears,  and  let  not  thine 
anger  burn  against  thy  servant ;  for  thou  art  even  as  Pharaoh. 

19  My  lord  asked  his  servants,  saying,  Have  ye  a  father,  or  a 
brother? 

20  And  we  said  unto  my  lord,  We  have  a  father,  an  old  man,  and 
a  child  of  his  old  age,  a  little  one ;  and  iiis  brother  is  dead,  and  he 
alone  is  left  of  his  mother ;  and  his  father  loveth  him. 

21  And  thou  saidst  unto  thy  servants.  Bring  him  down  unto  me, 
that  I  may  set  mine  eyes  upon  him. 

22  And  we  said  unto  my  lord,  The  lad  cannot  leave  his  father  :  for 
if  he  should  leave  his  father,  his  father  would  die. 

23  And  thou  saidst  unto  thy  servants,  Except  your  youngest 
brother  come  down  with  you,  ye  shall  see  my  face  no  more. 

24  And  it  came  to  pass  when  we  came  up  unto  thy  servant  my 
father,  we  told  him  the  words  of  my  lord. 

25  And  our  father  said,  Go  again,  buy  us  a  little  food. 

20  And  we  said.  We  cannot  go  down  :  if  our  youngest  brother  be 
with  us,  then  will  we  go  down  ;  for  we  may  not  see  the  man's  face, 
except  our  youngest  brother  be  with  us. 

27  And  'thy  servant  my  father  said  unto  us,  Ye  know  that  my 
wife  bare  me  two  sons  : 

28  and  the  one  went  out  from  me,  and  I  said,  Surely  he  is  torn 
in  pieces ;  and  I  have  not  seen  him  since : 

29  and  if  ye  take  this  one  also  from  me,  and  harm  befall  him,  ye 
will  bring  down  my  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  Sheol.* 

30  Now  therefore  when  I  come  to  thy  servant  my  father,  and  the 
lad  is  not  with  us ;  seeing  that  his  life  is  bound  up  in  the  lad's  life ; 

31  it  will  come  to  pass,  when  he  seeth  that  the  lad  is  not  ivitli  us-, 
that  he  will  die :  and  thy  servants  will  bring  down  the  gray  hairs  of 
thy  servant  our  father  with  sorrow  to  Sheol. 

32  For  thy  servant  became  surety  for  the  lad  unto  my  father, 
saying.  If  I  bring  him  not  unto  thee,  then  shall  I  bear  the  blame  to 
my  father  for  ever. 

33  Now  therefore,  let  thy  servant,  I  pray  thee,  abide  instead  of 
the  lad  a  bondman  to  my  lord ;  and  let  the  lad  go  up  with  his  brethren. 

34  For  how  shall  I  go  up  to  my  father,  if  the  lad  be  not  with  me? 
lest  I  see  the  evil  that  shall  come  on  my  father. 

•4.  V.  and  M.  8.  V.,  the  grave. 

The  paragraph  needs  no  explanation  and  admits  of  no  embellish- 
ment. Vr.  28,  however,  fixes  our  attention  on  the  circumstance 
that  in  all  those  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  years  of  bitter  grief 
for  his  favorite  son,  Jacob  had  not  yet  lost  the  hope  of  seeing 
him  again.  It  is  true  that  he  says:  "and  the  one  (Joseph)  went 
out  from  me,  and  I  said:  Surely  he  is  torn  in  pieces!"  but  he 
ends  the  same  sentence,  adding  "and  I  have  not  seen  Mm  since." 
It  is  clear  from  indications  already  given  that  the  aged  patriarch 
distrusted  the  good-faith  and  loyalty  of  his  sons,  and  suspected 
some  treachery  on  their  part.  The  wives  of  his  sons  had  no  doubt 
grave  suspicions  of  a  truth  which  they  had  not  been  able  to  keep 
secret  for  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  years;   and  thus  it  would 


482  GENESIS 

not  be  possible  to  conceal  it  entirely  from  the  distrustful  and  dis- 
tressed old  man.  This  outburst  of  true  and  moving  elociuence, 
which  will  be  always  famous  among  people  who  read  the  Bible, 
as  a  jewel  of  inimitable  beauty,  had  more  effect  than  Judah  ex- 
pected; for  it  broke  Joseph's  heart  to  pieces,  and  tore  from  his 
face  the  mask  of  cold  reserve  and  strangeness  which  he  had  till 
then  affected. 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

VES.     1 — 15.       JOSEPH     MAKES     HIMSELF     KNOWN    TO    HIS     BRETHREN. 
(1707    B.    C.) 

1  Then  Joseph  could  not  refrain  himself  before  all  them  that 
stood  by  him ;  and  he  cried.  Cause  every  man  to  go  out  from  me.  And 
there  stood  no  man  with  him,  while  Joseph  made  himself  known  unto 
his  brethren. 

2  And  he  wept  aloud :  and  the  Egyptians  heard,  and  the  house  of 
Pharaoh  heard, 

3  And  Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  I  am  Joseph ;  doth  my  father 
yet  live?  And  his  brethren  could  not  answer  him;  for  they  were 
troubled  at  his  presence. 

4  And  .Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  Come  near  to  me,  I  pray 
you.  And  they  came  near.  And  he  said,  I  am  Joseph  your  brother, 
whom  ye  sold  into  Egypt. 

5  And  now  be  not  grieved,  nor  angry  with  yourselves,  that  ye  sold 
me  hither  :  for  God  did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  life. 

6  For  these  two  years  hath  the  famine  been  in  the  land :  and  there 
are  yet  fi^'e  years,  in  which  there  shall  be  neither  plowing  nor  harvest. 

7  And  God  sent  me  before  you  to  preserve  you  a  remnant  in  the 
earth,  and  to  save  you  alive  by  a  great  deliverance. 

8  So  now  it  was  not  you  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God :  and  he 
hath  made  me  a  father  to  Pharaoh,  and  lord  of  all  his  house,  and 
ruler  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt. 

9  Haste  ye,  and  go  up  to  my  father,  and  say  unto  him,  Thus  saith 
thy  son  Joseph,  God  hath  made  me  lord  of  all  Egypt ;  come  down  unto 
me,  tarry  not ; 

10  and  thou  shalt  dwell  in  the  land  of  Goshen,  and  thou  shalt  be 
near  unto  me,  thou,  and  thy  children,  and  thy  children's  children,  and 
thy  flocks,  and  thy  herds,  and  all  that  thou  hast : 

11  and  there  will  I  nourish  thee :  for  there  are  yet  five  years  of 
famine ;  lest  thou  come  to  poverty,  thou,  and  thy  household,  and  all 
that  thou  hast. 

12  And,  behold,  your  eyes  see,  and  the  eyes  of  my  brother  Ben- 
jamin, that  it  is  my  mouth  that  speaketh  unto  you. 

13  And  ye  shall  tell  my  father  of  all  my  glory  in  Egypt,  and  of 
all  that  ye  have  seen :  and  ye  shall  haste  and  bring  down  my  father 
hither. 

14  And  he  fell  upon  his  brother  Benjamin's  neck,  and  wept ;  and 
Benjamin  wept  upon  his  neck. 

15  And  he  kissed  all  his  brethren,  and  wept  upon  them :  and  after 
that  his  brethren  talked  with  him. 

Joseph  had  acted  with  greater  or  less  skill  a  part  which  he 
he  was  no  longer  able  to  represent.  It  was  indispensable  for  him 
at  this  point  to  remove  the  mask  and  give  vent  to  the  over-master- 
ing feelings  of  his  heart.    He  therefore  cried  in  a  loud  voice  that 


CHAPTER  45:  1—15  483 

all  should  go  out  from  his  presence;  and  no  one  remained  with 
them,  when,  giving  loose  rein  to  his  emotions  and  liberty  to  his 
bursting  heart,  he  broke  forth  in  loud  and  prolonged  weeping. 
For  some  time  Joseph's  steward  and  those  who  attended  most  con- 
stantly at  his  side  had  waited  with  interest  and  anxiety  the  out- 
come of  a  drama,  whose  separate  acts  they  could  not  comprehend; 
but  on  hearing  the  loud  weeping  which  Joseph  could  no  longer 
suppress,  they  found  the  expected  explanation:  "The  Egyptians 
heard  and  the  house  of  Pharaoh  heard."  Here  we  see  that  "the 
house  of  Joseph"  was  no  more  than  a  part  of  "the  house  of 
Pharaoh,"  and  both  were  of  vast  extent.  After  the  first  paroxysm 
of  weeping  had  passed,  and  he  was  able  to  control  his  emotions, 
Joseph  said  to  his  brethren:  "I  am  Joseph!"  And  not  satisfied 
with  the  certainty  of  what  they  had  already  told  him,  with  great 
naturalness  he  asks  them  once  more:     "Doth  my  father  yet  live?" 

The  Bible  paints  all  this  scene  with  wonderful  vividness,  as 
only  the  Bible  can  paint  it.  Overwhelmed  by  emotions  which 
could  not  find  expression  in  words,  they  stood  silent  and  terror- 
stricken  before  Joseph.  The  positive  certainty  of  what  they  had 
before  only  suspected  took  away  their  breath,  and  instead  of 
drawing  near  to  him,  they  rather  withdrew  from  him.  Joseph 
then  besought  them  to  come  near;  and  they  having  done  so,  he 
repeats:  "I  am  Joseph,  your  brother,  whom  ye  sold  into  Egypt!" 
and  as  the  horror  of  their  sin  and  crime,  thus  awakened,  visibly 
overcomes  them,  Joseph  adds,  that  they  should  not  be  angry  with 
themselves  for  this,  since  by  its  means  God  was  saving  life,  and 
carrying  into  effect  his  purposes  of  great  mercy.  While  the  pur- 
pose of  God  did  not  at  all  diminish  the  atrocity  of  their  sin, 
Joseph  carried  this  thought  to  the  extreme  of  saying  to  them: 
"It  was  not  you  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God!"  with  the  purpose 
of  diminishing  in  some  degree  the  alarm  and  terror  which  had 
seized  upon  their  minds.  In  the  same  manner  Peter  exhorted  the 
people  to  repent  and  turn  to  God,  by  the  consideration  that  their 
atrocious  crime  in  putting  to  death  their  promised  Messiah  (=i:"the 
Christ")  took  place  "by  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowl- 
edge of  God"  (Acts  2:  23,  38)  for  their  salvation  and  that  of  the 
world:  and  some  days  later  he  said  to  them  that  what  God  had 
before  announced  by  the  mouth  of  all  the  prophets,  that  his 
Christ  (or  Messiah)  should  suffer,  he  had  fulfilled,  by  means  of 
their  ignorance  and  sin;  and  he  used  this  as  an  argument  why 
they  should  repent  and  turn  to  God.    Acts  3:  17 — 19. 

Giving  expression,  then,  to  his  ardent  desire  to  see  his  aged 
father,  he  hastens  them,  even  before  he  had  given  them  his 
brotherly  embrace,  to  bring  him  at  once,  and  tell  the  old  man. 


484  GENESIS 

bowed  down  still  with  grief,  of  all  his  glory  and  power  in  Egypt, 
and  inform  him  that  he  had  already  a  place  prepared  for  him 
and  for  all  his;  manifesting  thus  that  Joseph  had  his  plan 
well  studied  out  beforehand  in  all  its  details.  But  it  was  not  till 
after  he  had  fallen  on  their  necks  and  wept  upon  them  all,  com- 
mencing with  his  own  brother  Benjamin,  that  his  brethren  re- 
gained sufficient  composure  and  confidence  to  speak  with  him. 
Most  admirable  is  this  scene  as  the  Bible  paints  it  for  us,  and  of 
Inimitable  beauty!  Beautiful  also  is  the  application  which  all 
this  has  to  the  case  of  our  brother  Jesus,  brought  out  from  the 
prison-house  of  the  grave,  and  "exalted  to  be  a  Prince  and  a 
Savior"  (Acts  5:  31);  and  those  who  receive  him  unto  salvation, 
receive  him  more  or  less  in  the  same  way  as  these  brethren  of 
Joseph:  with  repentance  and  sorrow  of  heart  for  their  past  sins 
and  want  of  love  toward  him.  Likewise,  as  Joseph  did  not  impose 
on  them  three  months  of  penance,  till  they  had  proved  themselves 
worthy  men,  but  gave  them  at  once  the  embrace  and  kiss  of  recon- 
ciliation, so  also  does  our  brother  Jesus  with  us,  when  we  turn  to 
him  with  repentance  and  faith  and  sincere  purpose  of  a  new  life; 
— without  which  repentance  is  a  sham. 

45:  16 — 20.  when  the  news  is  heard  by  pharaoh,  it  causes  him 
great  satisfaction,  and  he  gives  the  necessary  orders  fob 
Joseph's  father  and  kindred  to  come  without  delay.    ( 1706  b.  c.  ) 

16  And  the  report  thereof  was  heard  in  Pharaoh's  house,  saying 
Joseph's  brethren  are  come :  and  it  pleased  Pharaoh  well,  and  hia 
servants. 

17  And  Pharaoh  said  unto  Joseph,  Say  unto  thy  brethren.  This 
do  ye :  lade  your  beasts,  and  go,  get  you  unto  the  land  of  Canaan ; 

18  And  take  your  father  and  your  households,  and  come  unto  me : 
and  I  will  give  you  the  good  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  ye  shall  eat  the 
fat  of  the  land. 

19  Now  thou  art  commanded,  this  do  ye ;  take  you  wagons  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt  for  your  little  ones,  and  for  your  wives,  and  bring 
your  father,  and  come. 

20  Also  regard  not  your  stufE :  for  the  good  of  all  the  land  of 
Egypt  is  yours. 

When  the  loud  weeping  of  Joseph  was  heard  by  "the  house  of 
Pharaoh,"  the  king  did  not  long  delay  in  finding  out  what  had 
happened;  and  that  God  who  was  fulfilling  his  own  high  purposes 
in  Joseph  and  his  kindred,  so  disposed  the  minds  of  Pharaoh  and 
his  counselors  that  the  event  gave  satisfaction  and  pleasure  to 
them  all;  so  that  the  king  at  once  took  the  necessary  steps  for  the 
immediate  removal  of  Jacob  and  all  the  clan,  or  tribe,  into  Egypt. 
With  such  favor  he  looked  upon  the  matter,  that  he  put  at  their 
service  the  best  that  the  land  of  Egypt  contained.     Vr.  20.     It  is 


CHAPTER  45:  21—24  485 

believed  that  at  this  time  the  reigning  dynasty  was  that  of  the 
Hyksos,  or  "Shepherd  Kings," — Syrians  or  Asiatics  who  had  in- 
vaded Egypt,  and  had  seized  upon  the  Ivingdom,  and  who  were  ill- 
regarded  by  the  native  races  of  Egypt;  by  whom  they  were  finally 
expelled,  more  than  100  years  later,  at  the  time  when  "there 
arose  another  king  (or  dynasty)  that  knew  not  Joseph,"  as  we 
are  told  in  Ex.  1:8;  Acts  7:  18.  It  is  reasonably  believed  that  as 
they  were  foreigners  and  Asiatics,  Pharaoh  and  his  counselors 
looked  with  peculiar  satisfaction  on  the  coming  of  Jacob  and  his 
people,  a  large  and  powerful  tribe  of  Asiatics,  who  would  not  only 
increase  the  power  and  riches  of  his  kingdom,  but  would  give  ad- 
ditional firmness  to  his  throne,  against  the  discontent  and  disturb- 
ances of  the  native  races.  So  wise  is  our  God,  and  so  wisely  does 
he  make  use  of  all  natural  events  to  carry  out  his  great  enter- 
prises; and  one  of  the  most  precious  lessons  that  we  are  taught 
by  this  history  of  Joseph,  is  that  of  having  ever  the  most  unlimited 
confidence  in  his  power  and  providence,  and  in  his  inexhaustible 
love. 

"Trust  in  him  at  all  times,  ye  people; 
pour  your  heart  before  him; 
God  is  a  refuge  for  us!"    Ps.  62:  8. 

45:  21 — 24.  joseph  at  once  makes  the  necessary  abrangements, 
in  accordance  with  what  pharaoh  had  commanded;  he  also 
gives  gifts  to  his  brethren  and  sends  a  present  to  his  father. 

(1706   B.   C.) 

21  And  the  sons  of  Israel  did  so :  and  Joseph  gave  them  wagons, 
according  to  the  commandment  of  Pharaoh,  and  gave  them  provision 
for  the  way. 

22  To  all  of  them  he  gave  each  man  changes  of  raiment ;  but  to 
Benjamin  he  gave  three  hundred  pieces  of  silver,  and  five  changes  of 
raiment. 

23  And  to  his  father  he  sent  after  this  manner :  ten  asses  lad^n 
with  the  good  things  of  Egypt,  and  ten  she-asses  laden  with  grain  and 
bread  and  provision  for  his  father  by  the  way. 

24  So  he  sent  his  brethren  away,  and  they  departed  :  and  he  said 
unto  them,  See  that  ye  fall  not  out  by  the  way. 

In  Bible  times  horses  were  only  used  for  war  (see  Job  39:  19 — 
25  and  Ps.  20:  7) ;  for  which  reason  the  Israelites  did  not  use  them 
until  the  days  of  David  and  Solomon.  The  wagons  which 
Pharaoh  sent  to  bring  the  women  and  children  of  the  family  of 
Jacob  would  naturally  be  ox-carts,  as  in  fact  the  derivation  of  the 
word  in  Hebrew  implies.  Joseph,  who  had  distinguished  his  own 
brother  Benjamin  in  the  feast  which  he  made  for  his  brethren, 
here  distinguishes  him  again  with  even  more  signal  marks  of  his 
preference,  giving  to  each  of  them  changes  of  raiment,  but  giving 


486  GENESIS 

to  Benjamin  five  changes  of  raiment  and  300  "pieces  of  silver"; 
by  wliich  phrase  we  ordinarily  understand  the  shekels  60  cents 
of  our  currency.  To  his  venerable  father  he  sent  ten  asses  loaded 
with  the  most  precious  things  of  Egypt,  and  ten  she-asses  loaded 
with  food  for  his  father  on  the  way.  In  the  Hebrew  text  a  dis- 
tinction is  always  made  between  he-asses  and  she-asses,  which 
are  not  the  masculine  and  feminine  forms  of  the  same  word,  but 
words  entirely  different.  For  us  it  was  impossible  to  appreciate 
the  practical  difference  that  there  may  have  been  between  the 
two;  but  it  seems  that  the  preference  was  given  to  the  she-ass, 
especially  for  riding.  Comp.  Job.  1:3;  42:  12;  Num.  22:  21;  Judg. 
5:  19, — a  distinction  between  the  two  but  seldom  noted  in  our 
English  Versions. 

On  dispatching  his  brethren,  Joseph  did  not  regard  it  as  need- 
less to  charge  them  that  they  should  not  quarrel  hy  the  way; 
something  that  was  very  likely  to  happen  under  the  circumstances. 

45:  25 — 28.     jacob  receives  the  tidings  with  a  cold  heart;  but 

HIS  SPIRIT  revives  AT  THE  SIGHT  OF  THE  WAGONS.      (1706  B.  C.) 

25  And  they  went  up  out  of  Egypt,  and  came  into  the  land  of 
Canaan  unto  Jacob  their  father. 

2G  And  they  told  liim,  saying,  Joseph  is  yet  alive,  and  he  is  ruler 
over  all  the  land  of  Egypt.  And  his  heart  fainted,*  for  he  believed 
them  not, 

27  And  they  told  him  all  the  words  of  Joseph,  which  he  hnd  said 
unto  them :  and  when  he  saw  the  wagons  which  Joseph  had  sent  to 
carry  him,  the  sphMt  of  Jacob  their  father  revived : 

28  and  Israel  said.  It  is  enough  :  Joseph  my  son  is  yet  alive :  I 
will  go  and  see  him  before  I  die. 

I* Mod.  Span.  Ver.,  his  heart  remained  cold.] 

We  know  by  ch.  37:  14  that  Jacob  was  residing  in  the  valley  of 
Hebron  when  Joseph  was  sold  into  Egypt;  and  we  know  from  ch. 
46:  1  that  he  was  still  residing  there  when  Joseph  sent  for  him; 
because  he  began  his  journey  and  came  to  Beersheba,  which  was 
25  miles  to  the  S.  W.  of  Hebron,  or  Mamre,  on  the  way  to  Egypt. 
The  sons  of  Jacob  passed  over  this  road  in  haste,  in  order  to  carry 
their  father  the  tidings  of  his  son  Joseph.  It  is  certain,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  Jacob  believed  his  sons  had  deceived  him  with 
regard  to  the  fate  of  Joseph;  and  the  strange,  mysterious  and 
inexplicable  events  which  had  happened  to  his  sons  in  Egypt  the 
first  time,  had  given  him  vague  presentiments  of  good  or  evil,  or 
of  good  and  evil;  and  nevertheless  when  his  sons  explained  it  all, 
with  the  joyous  cry:  "Joseph  is  yet  alive,  an'd  he  is  the  governor 
of  all  the  land  of  Egypt!"  his  heart  did  not  answer  to  that 
announcement  with  any  emotion,  because  he  did  not  believe  them; 
on  the  contrary,  his  heart  fainted;   (M.  S.  V.,  remained  cold) ;  but 


CHAPTER  46:  1—7  487 

when  he  had  heard  the  messages  which  they  brought  him  from 
his  son,  and  when  he  saw  the  wagons  sent  to  carry  him  and  the 
women  and  children  of  his  family,  his  spirit  revived,  and  he  ex- 
claimed: "It  is  enough;  Joseph  my  son  is  yet  alive;  I  will  go 
and  see  him  before  I  die!"  It  is  evident  that  the  unaccustomed 
sight  of  that  train  of  wagons,  or  ox-carts,  created  in  him,  and  in 
all  of  them,  a  very  deep  impression.  Old  age  is  of  itself  sad; 
that  of  Jacob  we  know  from  his  own  mouth  that  it  was  so  in  a 
pre-eminent  degree  (ch.  47:9);  when,  therefore,  he  heard  the 
news  of  Joseph,  he  said  that  he  would  go  to  see  him,  after  which 
he  would  die  content;  although  he  lived  seventeen  years  after 
that. 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

VKS.   1 — 7.    JACOB  AND  ALL  HIS  LINEAGE  GO  DOWN   INTO  EGYPT. 

1  And  Israel  took  bis  journey  with  all  that  he  had,  and  came  to 
Beer-sheba,  and  offered  sacrifices  unto  the  God  of  his  father  Isaac. 

2  And  God  spake  unto  Israel  in  the  visions  of  the  night,  and  said 
Jacob,  Jacob.     And  be  said,  Here  am  I. 

3  And  he  said,  I  am  God,  the  God  of  thy  father:  fear  not  to  go 
down  into  Egypt :  for  I  will  there  make  of  thee  a  great  nation : 

4  I  will  go  down  with  thee  into  Egypt ;  and  I  will  also  surely  bring 
thee  up  again  :  and  Joseph  shall  put  his  hand  upon  thine  eyes. 

5  And  Jacob  rose  up  from  Beer-sheba :  and  the  sons  of  Israel 
carried  Jacob  their  father,  and  their  little  ones,  and  their  wives,  in  the 
wagons  which  Pharaoh  had  sent  to  carry  him. 

6  And  they  took  their  cattle,  and  their  goods,  which  they  had 
gotten  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  came  into  Egypt,  Jacob,  and  all  his 
seed  with  him  : 

7  His  sons,  and  his  sons'  sons  with  him,  his  daughters,  and  his 
sons'  daughters,  and  all  his  seed  brought  he  with  him  into  Egypt. 

Jacob  therefore  in  all  haste,  with  all  his,  and  with  all  that  he 
had  that  was  removable,  set  out  on  his  journey,  and  went  to  Beer- 
sheba  (25  miles  to  the  S.  W.  of  Hebron),  the  old  abode  of  his 
grandfather  Abraham,  and  there  upon  the  ancient  altar  of  the 
family,  he  offered  sacrifices  to  God;  seeking  information  doubtless 
as  to  God's  will;  for  vr.  3  gives  us  a  clear  indication  that  he  had 
a  certain  dread  of  going  down  to  Egypt,  even  after  he  had  set 
out  on  the  journey;  and  not  without  good  cause;  for  the  step 
was  of  the  gravest  importance,  and  of  the  most  serious  conse- 
quences. God  therefore  appeared  to  him  in  visions  of  the  night, 
and  tranquilized  his  fears,  authorizing  his  descent  into  Egypt, 
and  making  him  promises  suitable  to  the  case;  and  in  particular, 
that  he  would  there  make  of  him  a  great  nation;  that  he  would 
go  down  with  him,  and  he  would  bring  him  up  again;  and  that 
Joseph  should  close  his  eyes  in  death.  The  three  promises  taken 
together  make  it  impossible  to  understand  "I  will  also  surely  bring 


488  GENESIS 

tliee  up  again,"  of  an  early  return,  after  the  years  of  famine  had 
passed;  though  Jacob  and  his  sons  evidently  so  understood  it  (see 
ch.  47:  4),  not  grasping  the  three  in  their  true  scope  and  intent, 
as  seen  after  their  fulfilment.  They  are  to  be  understood  primarily 
of  his  dead  body,  with  regard  to  which  he  exacted  an  oath  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  that  they  should  not  bury  him  in  Egypt;  and 
again,  the  words  are  to  be  understood  of  his  descendants,  when 
they  went  up  from  Egypt  to  take  possession  of  the  land  which  God 
had  given  to  their  fathers.  Not  even  at  such  a  juncture  as  this 
was  Jacob  willing  to  leave  the  land  given  to  them,  without  a 
divine  authorization.    Comp.  ch.  24:  5 — 6. 

Cheered,  therefore,  with  these  promises  and  with  the  divine  au- 
thorization, Jacob  and  all  his  set  out  again  on  the  journey.  They 
carried  with  them  their  flocks  and  herds  and  all  the  movable 
goods  and  chattels  which  they  had  acquired  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 
The  "stuff"  which  Pharaoh  said  they  should  not  concern  them- 
selves about  (ch.  45:  20),  would  be  that  multitude  of  objects  and 
conveniences  which  they  had  necessarily  to  leave  behind  them; 
but  they  were  told  to  give  themselves  no  concern  about  that,  "be- 
cause the  good  of  all  the  land  of  Egypt  is  yours."  So  well  did 
God  care  for  the  removal  of  his  people  into  Egypt,  that  it  might 
be  verified  under  the  most  favorable  conditions!  The  message 
which  Joseph  gave  to  Pharaoh  was:  "My  father  and  my  brethren, 
and  their  flocks,  and  their  herds,  and  all  that  they  have,  are  come 
out  of  the  land  of  Canaan."  Ch.  47:  1.  All  their  servants  and 
dependants,  therefore,  they  doubtless  brought  with  them,  although 
the  servants  are  not  mentioned  here,-  any  more  than  in  the  re- 
peated journeys  they  made  to  Egypt  to  buy  grain.  Abraham 
had  318  of  them,  "young  men,"  born  in  his  house,  and  trained  to 
the  use  of  arms,  whom  he  took  forth  to  war  (without  counting 
the  men  that  he  left  for  the  protection  of  the  encampment),  when 
he  pursued  after  Chedorlaomer  and  the  other  invading  kings  (ch. 
13:  14);  which  would  represent  an  encampment  of  not  less  than 
1,500  or  2,000  persons.  And  if  Abimelech  king  of  Gerar  had  any 
cause  to  say  to  Isaac:  "Go  from  us,  for  thou  art  much  stronger 
than  we"  (ch.  26:  16),  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  Jacob  and 
his  twelve  sons,  100  years  later,  would  carry  with  them  into 
Egypt  an  encampment  of  not  less  than  3,000  or  4,000  persons.  It 
Is  very  important  to  bear  this  circumstance  in  mind,  when  we 
come  to  account  for  the  enormous  increase  of  the  people  in  Egypt, 
In  the  space  of  215  years, — almost  seven  generations  of  30  years 
each.  An  incredible  increase,  it  might  well  be  esteemed,  if  we 
attended  only  to  those  mentioned  in  vrs.  7 — 27,  the  70  souls  of  the 
family  of  Jacob  who  came  into  Egypt.     But  it  is  noways  incredible 


CHAPTER  46:  8—27  489 

that  3,000  or  4,000  persons,  masters  and  servants,  all  of  them 
circumcised  Israelites  (ch.  15:  12,  13),  should  increase  into  a 
nation  of  two  or  three  millions  in  the  space  of  215  years,  doubling 
every  20  or  25  years;  and  the  Bible  says  that  they  increased  in  a 
very  extraordinary  manner:  Heb.  they  bred  or  swarmed  (like 
fishes).    Ex.  1:  7,  12.    Comp.  ch.  1:  20—21. 

46:  8 — 27.    a  complete  list  of  the  lineage  of  jacob  which  estab- 
lished THEMSELVES  IN  EGYPT,  INCLUDING  JOSEPH  AND  HIS  SONS. 

8  And  these  are  the  names  of  the  children  of  Israel,  who  came 
into  Egypt,  Jacob  and  his  sons :   Reuben,  Jacob's  first-born. 

0  And  the  sous  of  Reuben :  Hanoch,  and  Pallu,  and  Hezron,  and 
Carmi. 

10  And  the  sons  of  Simeon :  Jemuel,  and  Jamin,  and  Ohad,  and 
Jachin,  and  Zohar,  and  Shaul  the  son  of  a  Cauaanitish  woman. 

11  And  the  sons  of  Levi :   Gershon,  Kohath,   and  Merari. 

12  And  the  sons  of  Judah ;  Er,  and  Onan,  and  Shelah,  and  Perez, 
and  Zerah  :  but  Er  and  Onan  died  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  And  the 
sons  of  Perez  were   Hezron  and  Hamul. 

13  And  the  sons  of  Issachar:  Tola,  and  Puvah,  and  lob,  and 
Sbimron. 

14  .\nd  the  sons  of  Zebulun :  Sered,  and  Elon,  and  Jahleel. 

1.5  These  are  tlie  sons  of  Leah,  whom  she  bare  unto  Jacob  in 
Paddan-aram,  with  his  daughter  Dinah  :  all  the  souls  of  his  sons  and 
his  daughters  were  thirty  and  three. 

16  And  the  sons  of  Gad :  Ziphion,  and  Haggi,  Shuni,  and  Ezbon, 
Eri,  and  Arodi,  and  Areli. 

17  And  the  sons  of  Asher :  Imnah,  and  Ishvah,  and  Ishvi,  and 
Beriah,  and  Serah  their  sister ;  and  the  sons  of  Beriah :  Heber,  and 
Malchiel. 

18  These  are  the  sons  of  Zilpah,  whom  Laban  gave  to  Leah  his 
daughter ;  and  these  she  bare  unto  Jacob,  even  sixteen  souls. 

19  The  sons  of  Rachel  Jacob's  wife  :  Joseph  and  Benjamin. 

20  And  unto  Joseph  in  the  land  of  Egypt  were  born  Manasseh  and 
Ephraim,  whom  Asenath,  the  daughter  of  Poti-phera  priest  of  On,  bare 
unto  him. 

21  And  the  sons  of  Benjamin :  Bela,  and  Becher,  and  Ashbel, 
Gera,  and  Naaman.  Ehi,  and  Rosh.  Muppim,  and  Huppim,  and  Ard, 

22  These  are  the  sons  of  Rachel,  who  were  born  to  Jacob :  all  the 
Bouls  were  fourteen. 

23  And  the  sons  of  Dan :  Hushim. 

24  And  the  sons  of  Naphtali :  Jahzeel,  and  Guni,  and  Jezer,  and 
Shillem. 

25  These  are  the  sons  of  Bilhah,  whom  Laban  gave  unto  Rachel 
his  daughter,  and  these  she  bare  unto  Jacob :  all  the  souls  were  seven. 

26  All  the  souls  that  came  with  Jacob  into  Egypt,  that  came  out' 
of  his  loins,  besides  Jacob's  sons'  wives,  all  the  souls  were  three- 
score and  six ; 

27  and  the  sons  of  Joseph,  who  were  born  to  him  in  Egypt,  were 
two  souls :  all  the  souls  of  the  house  of  Jacob,  that  came  into  Egypt, 
were  threescore  and  ten. 

Dinah  is  expressly  mentioned  in  the  list  of  the  children  of 
Leah,  and  is  counted  among  the  70  persons  of  the  house  of  Jacob 
who  went  down  to  Egypt;  excepting  from  the  list  only  the  wives 
of  the  sons  of  Jacob.  Vr.  26.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  Jacob 
had  no  other  daughter  of  his  own,  except  Dinah,  and  that  the 


490  GENESIS 

words  "his  daughters,"  in  vr.  7  and  ch.  37:  35,  refer  naturally  to 
his  daughters-in-law ;  since  it  is  said  in  vrs.  26,  27  that  all  the 
souls  of  his  own  immediate  family,  "besides  Jacob's  sons'  wives, 
.  .  .  all  the  souls  of  the  house  of  Jacob  that  came  into  Egypt 
were  seventy."  It  is  to  be  noted  that  Stephen  says  in  Acts  7:  14) 
that  Jacob  and  all  his  kindred  who  went  down  into  Egypt  were 
"seventy-five  persons."  This  is  because  the  Greek  version  of  the 
LXX.  for  some  reason  adds  to  the  Hebrew  text  several  children  of 
Manasseh  and  of  Ephraim,  and  increases  the  total  number  to  75, 
without  regard  to  the  fact  that  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of 
Jacob  and  his  family,  Manasseh  and  Ephraim  could  not  have  been 
more  than  seven  or  eight  years  of  age;  so  that  these  sons  of  theirs 
were  born  to  them  many  years  later.  But  Stephen,  a  Greek-speak- 
ing Jew,  naturally  quoted  from  the  Greek  Version  which  was 
familiar  to  him;  without  feeling  that  it  was  his  duty  to  stop  in 
his  discourse  in  order  to  correct  the  errors  of  the  Greek  text,  even 
if  he  was  aware  of  them.  The  mention  of  Shaul  (or  Saul),  of 
the  family  of  Simeon,  as  "the  son  of  a  Canaanitish  woman"  (Vr. 
10)  gives  us  to  understand,  as  before  said,  that,  with  the  exception 
of  Judah,  who  also  married  a  Canaanitish  woman  (ch.  38:  2), 
and  Joseph,  who  married  an  Egyptian  princess,  the  sons  of  Jacob 
married  women  of  their  own  encampment. 

46:  28 — 30.     jacob  notifies  Joseph  of  his  coming;  and  he  goes 
forth  to  meet  him  as  far  as  the  land  of  goshen.   (1706  b.  c.) 

28  And  he  sent  .Tud.ih  before  him  unto  Joseph,  to  show  the  way 
before  him  unto  Goshen  ;  and  they  came  into  the  land  of  Goshen. 

29  And  Joseph  made  ready  his  chariot,  and  went  up  to  meet  Israel 
his  father,  to  Goslien  ;  and  he  presented  himself  unto  him,  and  fell  on 
his  neck,  and  wept  on  his  neck  a  good  while, 

30  And  Israel  said  unto  Joseph,  Now  let  me  die,  since  I  have  seen 
thy  face,  that  thou  art  yet  alive. 

Judah,  as  "the  prince  among  his  brethren,"  was  sent  before, 
to  notify  Joseph  of  the  coming  of  his  father  and  his  kindred,  in 
order  that  he  might  be'  there  beforehand  to  meet  them.  It  seems 
that  this  is  the  sense  of  the  Hebrew  (A.  V.  "to  direct  his — Joseph's 
— face  unto  Goshen")  which  is  somewhat  indeterminate  in  this 
place.  In  fact,  Joseph  (according  to  vr.  29)  was  in  Goshen  to 
receive  his  father  at  the  time  of  his  arrival,  Judah  and  Joseph 
traveling  very  rapidly,  while  Jacob  and  his  encampment  would 
travel  slowly.  The  meeting  of  the  aged  patriarch  with  his  son, 
so  many  years  lost  to  him,  is  described  in  language  beautiful  and 
tender  to  the  last  degree,  and  which  needs  no  embellishments  on 
our  part.  Jacob  was  old,  and  he  was  not  naturally  of  the  most 
amiable    disposition.      His    elder    sons,    as  this    history    shows, 


CHAPTER  46:  31—34  491 

bore  toward  him  little  affection,  and  showed  him  little  considera- 
tion; while  Joseph,  his  favorite  son,  heaped  upon  him  a  wealth 
of  affection  and  honor,  which  neither  in  life  nor  in  death  were 
ever  chilled;  and  it  is  interesting  in  a  high  degree  to  observe  such 
affection  and  such  honor  bestowed  on  an  aged  father. 

To  these  manifestations  of  honor  and  affection  Jacob  answered 
with  effusion  of  his  soul:  "Now  let  me  die,  since  I  have  seen  thy 
face;  that  thou  art  yet  alive!"  His  words  bring  to  mind  those 
of  the  ancient  Simeon,  when  he  received  into  his  arms  the  infant 
Jesus: 

"Now  lettest  thy  servant  depart,  oh  Lord, 

according  to  thy  word,  in  peace; 

for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation,"  etc.    Luke  2:  29. 

46:  31 — 34.    Joseph  gives  instructions  to  his  brethren  as  to  how 
they  shall  answer  pharaoh  when  they  are  presented  before 

HIM.      (1706  B.  C.) 

31  And  Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  and  unto  his  father's  house, 
I  will  go  up,  and  tell  Pharaoh,  and  will  say  unto  him,  My  brethren, 
and  my  father's  house,  who  were  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  are  come 
unto  me ; 

32  and  the  men  are  shepherds,  for  they  have  been  keepers  of 
cattle ;  and  they  have  brought  their  flocks,  and  their  herds,  and  all 
that  they  have. 

33  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  Pharaoh  shall  call  you,  and 
shall  say,  What  is  your  occupation? 

34  that  ye  shall  say.  Thy  servants  have  been  keepers  of  cattle 
from  our  youth  even  until  now,  both  we,  and  our  fathers :  that  ye  may 
dwell  in  the  land  of  Goshen :  for  every  shepherd  is  an  abomination 
unto  the  Egyptians. 

It  is  evident  that  at  this  time  the  capital  of  the  country  and 
the  court  of  the  king  were  in  Lower  Egypt,  not  far  from  the  land 
of  Goshen,  which  was  situated  near  the  Isthmus  of  Suez.  The 
arrival  of  a  tribe  of  Asiatics  so  numerous  and  important,  made  it 
necessary  that  they  should  be  presented  before  Pharaoh,  and  com- 
ply with  the  law  and  usage  of  giving  an  account  of  themselves, 
and  asking  permission  to  remain  and  traffic  in  the  country.  Comp. 
eh.  42:  34.  The  circumstance  that  Pharaoh  had  sent  to  bring  them, 
did  not  modify  this  usage,  and  Joseph  gave  them  instructions  as 
to  how  they  should  reply  to  the  inquiries  of  Pharaoh,  in  order 
to  gain  the  object  which  so  deeply  interested  him;  to  wit,  that 
they  should  settle  in  the  land  of  Goshen  and  nowhere  else.  In 
this  also  we  see  the  hand  of  God.  If  the  Israelites  had  been 
colonized  in  central  Egypt,  or  in  the  south,  or  in  the  west,  it 
would  have  enormously  increased  the  difficulty  of  their  exodus, 
when  the  time  arrived  for  them  to  return  to  Canaan.  As 
Pharaoh  had  said  that  Joseph  should  settle  his  father  and  his 


492  GENESIS 

brethren  in  the  best  of  the  land,  he  chose  that  part  which  would 
be  the  easiest  and  the  best  for  them  to  enter,  and  for  them  to  de- 
part from;  a  great  part  of  it  desert,  but  very  suitable  for  the 
pasturage  of  cattle,  and  which  contained  parts  very  suitable  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  being  both  rich  and  productive.  Thus 
it  would  happen  that  whenever  the  time  of  the  Exodus  should 
arrive  (a  time  unknown  to  them),  the  people  would  be  already  on 
the  border  of  Egypt  nearest  to  Canaan.  And  as  the  Egyptians 
held  shepherds  in  abomination,  the  land  of  Goshen  would  be  pre- 
cisely the  part  where  they  would  give  least  offence  to  the  native 
races  of  Egypt.  The  detestation  in  which  the  Egyptians  held 
shepherds  and  herdsmen  is  explained  in  part  by  the  fact  that 
the  Egyptians  did  not  eat  ilesh,  and  that  the  animals  which  the 
Israelites  both  ate  and  offered  in  sacrifice  to  God,  were  objects 
of  Egyptian  worship.  Comp.  Ex.  8:  26.  It  is  also  probable  that  it 
had  something  to  do  with  the  hatred  which  the  Egyptians  felt 
toward  the  usurpers  of  their  throne,  who  were  probably  the 
reigning  dynasty  at  that  time, — foreigners  come  from  Asia,  and 
who  go  in  history  under  the  name  of  the  "Shepherd  Kings."  It 
appears  from  ch.  47:  6  that  Pharaoh  himself  had  cattle,  and  de- 
sired that  Joseph  should  provide  him,  from  among  his  brethren, 
with  active  and  able  chief-shepherds  for  the  management  of  them; 
which  seems  to  indicate  two  things:  (1)  that  the  hatred  of  the 
Egyptians  towards  the  office  of  shepherd,  was  prejudicial  to  his 
interests;  and  (2)  that  he  was  himself  of  Asiatic  race,  and  raised 
cattle  for  his  own  use.  Joseph,  as  we  have  seen,  commanded  his 
steward  to  slaughter  animals  for  the  banquet  which  he  made  for 
his  brothers.  Ch.  43:  16.  So  then  the  prejudice  which  the 
Egyptians  had  against  shepherds  helped  to  the  attainment  of  the 
object  which  so  much  interested  Joseph,  to  wit,  that  his  father 
and  brethren  should  not  go  far  into  the  country,  but  settle  on 
the  northeastern  frontier,  which  was  nearest  to  Canaan. 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 

VBS.   1 — 6.     JOSEPH  PRESENTS  FIVE  OF  HIS  BROTHERS  BEFORE  PHARAOH. 
(1706    B.    C.) 

1  Then  Joseph  went  in  and  told  Phnrnoh.  nnd  snid.  My  father 
and  my  brethren,  and  their  flocks,  and  their  herds,  and  all  that  they 
have,  are  come  out  of  the  land  of  Canaan ;  and,  behold,  they  are  in 
the  land  of  Goshen. 

2  And  from  among  his  brethren  he  took  five  men,  and  presented 
them  unto  Pharaoh. 

3  And  Pharaoh  "said  unto  his  brethren,  What  is  your  occupation? 
And  tbev  said  unto  Pharaoh,  Thy  servants  are  shepherds,  both  we,  and 
our  fathers. 


CHAPTER  47:  7—10  493 

4  And  they  said  unto  Pharaoh,  To  sojourn  in  the  land  are  we 
come ;  for  there  is  no  pasture  for  thy  servants'  flocks ;  for  the  famine 
is  sore  in  the  land  of  Canaan  :  now  therefore,  we  pray  thee,  let  thy 
servants  dwell  in  the  land  of  Goshen. 

5  And  Pharaoh  spake  unto  Joseph,  saying,  Thy  father  and  thy 
brethren  are  come  unto  thee : 

6  the  land  of  Egypt  is  before  thee;  in  the  best  of  the  land  make 
thy  father  and  thy  brethren  to  dwell ;  in  the  land  of  Goshen  let  them 
dwell ;  and  if  thou  knowest  any  able  men  among  them,  then  make 
them  rulers  over  my  cattle. 

Without  loss  of  time,  Joseph  acquainted  Pharaoh  with  the  fact 
of  the  arrival  of  his  father  and  his  kindred,  informing  him  also 
that  they  were  in  the  N.  E.  extremity  of  the  country,  in  the  land 
of  Goshen;  where  he  desired  that  they  should  remain.  "From  the 
totality  {Heb.  "the  end"=  whole  number;  as  in  Num.  22:  41)  of 
his  brethren  he  took  five  men,  and  presented  them  before  Pha- 
raoh," in  order  to  comply  with  the  established  usage,  and  to  gain 
his  formal  permission  for  them  to  remain  in  the  land  of  Goshen: 
with  all  of  which  arrangements  Pharaoh  was  well  satisfied,  and 
readily  acceded  to  the  request  that  they  should  dwell  in  the  land 
of  Goshen.  It  is  to  be  noted  here  that  they  gave  him  frankly  to 
understand  that  they  came  only  to  sojourn  in  Egypt,  on  account 
of  the  famine  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  distinctly  with  the  pur- 
pose of  returning  there  soon.  It  is  evident  that  though  the  de- 
signs of  God  were  very  different,  Jacob  and  his  sons  had  no  other 
thought  than  that  of  returning  to  their  country  when  the  existing 
necessity  had  passed;  and  it  is  probable  that  they  alleged  this 
circumstance  as  a  reason  why  he  should  permit  them  to  remain 
in  the  land  of  Goshen.  This  part  of  the  country  is  here  called 
"Ooshen,"  and  in  vr.  11  it  is  called  "the  land  of  Rameses."  It  is 
probable  that  the  western  part  of  Goshen,  which  touched  upon  the 
delta  of  the  river  Nile,  and  its  system  of  canals  for  irrigation, 
was  in  fact  the  most  fertile  and  the  best  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
while  the  part  toward  the  east  and  N.  E.,  which  touched  upon  the 
desert,  would  be  the  most  convenient  for  the  raising  of  cattle. 

47:  7 — 10.    JACOB  also  is  presented  before  phabaoh,  and  blesses 

HIM.      (1706  B.  c.) 

7  And  Joseph  brought  in  Jacob  his  father,  and  set  him  before 
Pharaoh  :  and  Jacob  blessed  Pharaoh. 

8  And  Pharaoh  said  unto  Jacob,  How  many  are  the  days  of  the 
years  of  thy  life? 

9  And  Jacob  said  unto  Pharaoh,  The  days  of  the  years  of  my 
pilgrimage*  are  a  hundred  and  thirty  years :  few  and  evil  have  been 
the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life,  and  they  have  not  attained  unto  the 
days  of  the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers  in  the  days  of  their  pil- 
grimage.* 

10  And  Jacob  blessed  Pharaoh,  and  went  out  from  the  presence 
of  Pharaoh. 

*0r,  sojournlngs. 


494  GENESIS 

The  apostle  says  in  Heb.  7:  7,  that  "without  any  dispute,  the 
less  is  blessed  of  the  greater"  (Gr.  better:  see  1:4).  Jacob,  with- 
out presuming  upon  being  greater  or  better  than  Pharaoh,  as  the 
prophet  and  priest  of  God  blessed  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  interview,  he  blessed  him  again;  and  it  is  probable  that 
his  "blessing"  served  likewise  (as  is  also  our  use),  to  express 
his  gratitude  toward  the  friend  and  protector  of  his  son,  who  in 
addition  to  this,  bestowed  with  liberal  hand  great  favors  on 
Jacob  and  his  family.  When  the  king  asked  him:  "How  many 
are  the  days  of  the  years  of  thy  life!"  (for  it  is  probable  that  his 
age  called  the  attention  of  Pharaoh,  as  being  greater  than  was 
usual  in  Egypt),  the  patriarch,  who  was  well-experienced  in  evils, 
responded  in  words  which,  if  not  elegant,  are  certainly  notable, 
and  are  well-remembered  by  all  who  are  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  Bible:  "The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage  {Heb. 
Bojournings)  are  a  hundred  and  thirty  years:  few  and  evil  have 
been  the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life,  and  have  not  attained  unto 
the  days  of  the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers  in  the  days  of  their 
pilgrimage."  Under  the  same  remembrance  of  evils  experienced, 
and  of  the  good  promised  to  the  people  of  Jehovah,  Moses  the  man 
of  God  exclaims: 

"Return,  Oh  Jehovah;   how  long? 

and  let  it  repent  thee  concerning  thy  servants! 

Oh  satisfy  us  early  with  thy  mercy; 

that  we  may  rejoice  and  be  glad  all  our  days! 

Make  us   glad  according  to  the  days   wherein   thou   hast 
afflicted   us, 

and  the  years  wherein  we  have  seen  evil! 

Let  thy  work  appear  unto  thy  servants, 

and  thy  glory  unto  their  children; 

and  let  the  beauty  of  Jehovah  our  God  be  upon  us, 

and  establish  thou  the  work  of  our  hands  upon  us; 

yea,  the  work  of  our  hands  establish  thou  it!" 

Ps.  90:  13—17. 
All  the  life  of  the  patriarchs,  from  the  time  that  God  called 
Abraham  out  of  his  father's  house  and  the  land  of  his  nativity, 
until  they  took  possession  of  the  promised  land,  is  called  a 
"pilgrimage," — or  "sojourneying" — a  temporary  abode;  the  home- 
less life  of  one  who  lives  in  a  country  not  Ms  oivn,  without  the 
rights  of  citizenship;  and  thus  Canaan  is  called  the  "land  of  their 
sojournings."  It  is  not  that  their  human  life  is  called  a  sojourn- 
ing, or  pilgrimage,  far  from  their  country.  Heaven;  but  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  speak  rather  of  the  "sojournings  of  Abra- 


CHAPTER  47:  13—26  495 

ham,"  and  those  of  Isaac  and  those  of  Jacob.  Ch.  17:  8;  28:  4; 
37:  1;  Ex.  6:4.  In  this  very  passage  (vr.  9)  the  Hebrew  text  is 
sojournings,  rather  than  pilgrimage.  It  is  just  and  proper  to  un- 
derstand the  word  in  an  accommodated  and  spiritual  sense,  as 
does  the  apostle  in  Heb.  11:  13 — 16;  and  in  vr.  9  it  is  natural  to 
understand  the  word,  as  translated  in  the  singular  number,  of  the 
mortal  sojourning  of  Jacob:  but  in  ch.  36:  7,  Canaan  is  called 
"the  land  of  the  sojournings"  of  the  worldly  Esau,  no  less  than 
of  Jacob;  and  in  Ezek.  20:  38,  Babylon  is  called  "the  land  of  the 
sojournings"  of  those  impious  Jews  who  were  not  to  return  any 
more  to  the  land  of  Israel.  In  the  Hebrew  text,  the  word  is  of 
frequent  use  to  designate  a  temporary  abode  in  a  given  place,  in 
distinction  from  a  permanent  residence. 

After  blessing  Pharaoh  again,  Jacob  went  out  from  his  presence. 

47:  11,     12.       JOSEPH     MAKES    PROVISION    FOB    HIS     FATHER    AND     HIS 
KINDRED.       (1706    B.    C.) 

11  And  Joseph  placed  his  father  and  his  brethren,  and  gave  them 
a  possession  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  in  the  best  of  the  land,  in  the  land 
of  Rameses,  as  Pharaoh  had  commanded. 

12  And  Joseph  uourished  his  father,  and  his  brethren,  and  all  hia 
father's  household,  with  bread,  according  to  their  families. 

We  know  from  vrs.  20 — 22  that  during  the  long  famine  the 
Egyptian  priests  did  not  lose  their  lands  (as  did  the  common 
people  of  Egypt),  because  Pharaoh  provided  them  with  a  daily 
ration,  so  that  they  did  not  have  to  sell  their  lands  to  buy  food. 
But  Joseph  made  a  better  provision  for  his  father  and  his 
kindred;  he  "gave  them  a  possession  in  the  land  of  Egypt,"  and 
then  provided  them  with  subsistence  during  the  five  remaining 
years  of  the  famine. 

As  Joseph  enjoyed  unlimited  favor  and  unlimited  power,  and 
none  denied  or  disputed  the  great  benefits  which  Egypt  owed  to 
him,  he  was  able  to  make  these  arrangements  for  the  family  of 
his  father,  without  anybody  being  opposed  to  it:  under  other  cir- 
cumstances it  would  not  have  been  possible  for  him  to  have  done 
so.  It  is  regarded  as  certain  also,  as  has  been  said,  that  this  hap- 
pened under  the  government  of  one  of  the  Shepherd  Kings,  who 
being  Asiatics,  naturally  favored  the  foreigners  who  were  of  the 
same  general  stock  as  themselves;  since  they  would  assist  in 
maintaining  the  ascendency  of  that  dynasty;  which  at  a  later 
day  was  dethroned  and  cast  out  of  the  country. 

47:  13 — 26.    "the  fifth  fob  phabaoh." 

13  And  there  was  no  bread  in  all  the  land ;  for  the  famine  was 
very  sore,  so  that  the  land  of  Egypt  and  the  land  of  Canaan  fainted 
by  reason  of  the  famine. 


49G  GENESIS 

14  And  Joseph  gathered  up  all  the  money  that  was  found  in  the 
land  of  Egypt,  and  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  for  the  grain  which  they 
bought;  and  Joseph  brought  the  money  into  Pharaoh's  house. 

15  And  when  the  money  was  all  spent  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and 
in  the  land  of  Canaan,  all  the  Egyptians  came  unto  Joseph,  and  said. 
Give  us  bread:  for  whv  should  we  die  in  thy  presence?  for  our  money 
faileth. 

]()  And  Joseph  said,  Give  your  cattle:  and  I  will  give  you  for  your 
cattle,  if  money  fail. 

17  And  they  brought  their  cattle  unto  Joseph ;  and  Joseph  gave 
them  bread  in  exchange  for  the  horses,  and  for  the  flocks,  and  for  the 
herds,  and  for  the  asses :  and  he  fed  them  with  bread  in  exchange  for 
all  their  cattle  for  that  year. 

18  And  when  that  year  was  ended,  they  came  unto  him  the  second 
year,  and  said  unto  him.  We  will  not  hide  from  my  lord,  how  that  our 
money  is  all  spent ;  and  the  herds  of  cattle  are  my  lord's ;  there  is 
nought  left  in  the  sight  of  my  lord,  but  our  bodies,  and  our  lands : 

19  wherefore  should  we  die  before  thine  eyes,  both  we  and  our 
land?  buy  us  and  our  land  for  bread,  and  we  and  our  land  will  be 
servants  unto  Pharaoh  :  and  give  us  seed,  that  we  may  live,  and  not 

die,  and  that  the  land  be  not  desolate. 

20  So  Joseph  bouglit  all  the  land  of  Egypt  for  Pharaoh ;  for  the 
Egyptians  sold  every  man  his  field,  because  the  famine  was  sore  upon 
them  :  and  the  land  became  Pharaoh's. 

21  And  as  for  the  people,  he  removed  them  to  the  cities  from  one 
end  of  the  border  of  Egypt  even  to  the  other  end  thereof. 

22  Only  the  land  of  the  priests  bought  he  not :  for  the  priests  had 
a  portion  from  Pharaoh,  and  did  eat  their  portion  which  Pharaoh 
gave  them  ;  wherefore  they  sold  not  their  land. 

23  Then  Joseph  said  unto  the  people.  Behold,  I  have  bought  you 
this  day  and  your  land  for  Pharaoh  :  lo,  here  is  seed  for  you,  and  ye 
shall  now  sow  the  land. 

24  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  at  the  ingatherings,  that  ye  shall 
give  a  fifth  unto  Pharaoh,  and  four  parts  shall  be  your  own,  for  seed 
of  the  field,  and  for  your  food,  and  for  them  of  your  households,  and 
for  food  for  your  little  ones. 

25  And  they  said.  Thou  hast  saved  our  lives :  let  us  find  favor  in 
the  sight  of  my  lord,  and  we  will  be  Pharaoh's  servants. 

26  And  Joseph  made  it  a  statute  concerning  the  land  of  Egypt 
unto  this  day,  that  Pharaoh  should  have  the  fifth  ;  only  the  land  of 
the  priests  alone  became  not  Pharaoh's. 

We  know  from  secular  history  that  the  Egyptians  paid  to  the 
king  the  fifth  part  of  the  produce  of  the  soil,  except  the  lands  of 
the  priests,  which  were  exempt  from  this  tribute:  here  we  have 
given  us  the  origin  of  both  usages.  Among  the  Israelites,  God 
claimed,  by  the  Mosaic  law,  the  tenth  part  of  the  produce  of  the 
soil;  although,  as  no  provision  was  made  for  the  collectors  of 
tithes,  it  remained  at  the  will  of  the  individual  to  pay  or  not  to 
pay.  See  Deut.  26:  12—15;  Mai.  3:  10.  Besides  this  tithe  for  God 
and  his  worship,  Samuel  said  to  the  people  who  demanded  of  him 
a  king,  that  their  king  "would  take  the  tenth  of  their  seed  and 
(the  produce)  of  their  vineyards"  (1  Sam.  8:  15),  and  would 
doubtless  take  care  that  this  tithe  was  of  necessity  paid;  hut  in 
both  cases,  in  Egypt  and  in  Canaan,  the  owners  of  the  lands  were 
few  and  the  produce  of  the  soil  in  good  years  was  generally  very 


CHAPTER  47:  13—26  497 

great;  and  as  the  laborers  did  not  pay,  but  only  the  owners  of  the 
land,  the  tithe  never  became  the  heavy  burden  which  it  has 
always  been  where  the  Romish  priests  claimed  the  tithe  as  theirs 
of  divine  right,  under  the  sanctions  of  the  civil  law,  and  ap- 
pointed tithe-collectors  to  make  effective  their  usurped  and  mis- 
called rights. 

It  would  be  a  false  inference  to  draw  from  vrs.  15 — 20  that 
before  this  the  Egyptians  in  their  generality  were  owners  of 
land  and  cattle:  the  vast  majority  of  them  were  always  miserable 
slaves,  or  worse  than  slaves,  without  possessions  of  any  kind, 
and  without  rights;  200,000  of  whom,  it  is  said,  were  occupied  for 
the  space  of  20  years  in  building  a  single  one  of  the  pyramids.* 
The  paragraph  speaks  of  persons  who  were  owners  of  landed 
estate.  Besides  this,  the  cultivated  districts  were  nothing  more 
than  a  narrow  strip  of  fertile  land,  watered  by  the  annual  inunda- 
tions of  the  river  Nile,  the  owners  of  which  were  necessarily  rich 
or  well-to-do  people.  In  regard  to  the  equitableness  of  appropriat- 
ing the  fifth  part  of  the  harvest  in  the  seven  years  of  abundance, 
and  selling  the  same  to  the  people  during  the  seven  years  of 
famine,  until  their  money  was  exhausted,  and  the  people  had  to 
sell  for  bread,  first  their  cattle,  and  last  their  lands  and 
then  their  persons,  in  order  to  live,  we  are  not  in  circumstances 
to  judge  the  case  accurately,  so  far  as  Joseph  is  concerned.  The 
government  in  Egypt  has  always  been  despotic,  and  the  fifth 
which  was  appropriated  in  the  seven  years  of  abundance,  left 
still  in  the  hands  of  the  proprietors  more  grain  than  they  needed 
or  were  able  to  use.  For,  as  the  sagacious  Gideon  said  to  appease 
the  infuriated  Ephraimites:  "Is  not  the  gleaning  of  the  grapes 
of  Ephraim  better  than  the  vintage  of  ATjiezer?"  (Judg.  8:  2), 
the  four-fifth  parts  of  such  harvests  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile  would 
be  more,  in  amount,  and  harvested  with  less  labor,  than  the  most 
abundant  of  our  crops. 

The  Egyptians  likewise  had  timely  notice  to  make  their  own 
personal  arrangements  for  the  years  of  famine.  But  for  a  crisis 
like  that,  all  the  faith  and  wisdom  of  a  Joseph  was  necessary, 
sustained  by  all  the  resources  of  the  State,  and  the  despotic  power 
of  an  absolute  monarchy,  in  order  to  save  the  nation  from  de- 
struction. However  that  may  have  been,  so  manifest  was  the 
salvation  which  Joseph  had  wrought,  that  the  Egyptians  were 
well  satisfied  with  the  yoke  which  he  laid  upon  them,  when  he 
established  a  law  in  Egypt,  which  lasted  till  the  days  of  Moses, 

•"The  building  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  according  to  Herodotus,  occupied 
30  years  time,  and  relays  of  men  numbering  in  all  eleven  millions." 
Geike,  Hours  with  the  Bihle^  Vol.  1 :  p.  135.— Tr. 


498  GENESIS 

and  still  later:  "The  fifth  for  Pharaoh!"  Meanwhile,  and  till 
the  years  of  famine  had  passed,  for  the  convenience  of  attending 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  people,  he  removed  them  from  the 
villages  and  the  fields  to  the  cities,  and  there  sustained  them 
at  the  expense  of  the  public  treasury;  and  when  the  years  of 
seed-time  and  harvest  again  returned,  he  gave  them  lands  and 
seed;  with  the  understanding  that  the  fifth  part  should  be  for 
Pharaoh,  and  the  four-fifths  for  themselves;  excepting  always 
the  lands  of  the  priests.  In  this  was  manifested  the  religiousness 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  celebrated  by  Herodotus  and  other 
writers;  but  they  did  not  on  this  account  fail  of  being  a  peo- 
ple extremely  corrupted  and  vicious  in  their  moral  character. 
The  same  thing  happened  in  Babylon  and  Assyria,  people  ex- 
tremely religious  in  their  way,  and  where  the  priests  exercised- 
a  preponderating  influence  in  all  their  affairs;  but  morally 
corrupt  to  a  degree  that  can  hardly  be  believed  in  our  day. 
So  also  in  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  the  clergy  and  barons 
had  everything  their  own  way,  a  priest  was  worth  more  than  a 
king,  and  the  "keeper  of  the  king's  conscience"  was  a  more 
important  officer  than  prime  minister;  but  in  regard  to  liberty, 
justice,  purity  of  customs,  and  good  morals,  with  security  of 
person,  of  life  and  of  the  family,  and  especially  the  honor  and 
safety  of  women,  the  case  could  hardly  have  been  worse.  There 
is  only  one  religion  with  regard  to  which  it  is  true  that  how 
much  more  fervently  religious  a  people  is,  so  much  the  more  free, 
moral,  intelligent,  industrious,  happy  and  well-governed  it  is; 
and  that  is  the  religion  of  the  Bible — the  only  religion  which  is 
truly  that  of  Jesus  Christ:  but  the  more  intensely  and  fervently 
pagan,  Mohammedan  or  Roman  Catholic  any  people  or  nation 
is,  so  much  the  more  unfortunate  it  will  be  in  all  these  respects. 
Count  them  over  and  see.  Jesus  Christ  has  said,  and  still  is 
saying:  "Call  no  man  your  father  (=spiritual  father)  on  the 
earth;  for  one  (only)  is  your  Father,  who  is  in  heaven.  Neither 
be  ye  called  masters;  for  one  (only)  is  your  Master,  the 
Christ;": — "one  {only)  is  your  Master,  and  all  ye  are  brethren" 
(Matt.  23:  9,  10,  8) — a  doctrine  which  "the  priests"  can  never 
tolerate. 

47:  27 — 31.     jacob  lives  seventeen  yeaes  is  egypt,  and  when 

NEAR  HIS   death,   HE  EXACTS   AN   OATH  FEOM   JOSEPH  TO  BURY  HIM 
ONLY    IN    THE    LAND   OF    HIS    INHERITANCE.       (1689    B.    C.) 

27  And  Israel  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  in  the  land  of  Goshen ; 
and  they  gat  them  possessions  therein,  and  were  fruitful,  and  multi- 
plied exceedingly. 


CHAPTER  47:  27—31  499 

28  And  Jacob  lived  in  the  land  of  Egypt  seventeen  years :  so  the 
days  of  Jacob,  the  years  of  his  life,  were  a  hundred  forty  and  seven 
years. 

29  And  the  time  drew  near  that  Israel  must  die  :  and  he  called  his 
son  Joseph,  and  said  unto  him,  If  now  I  have  found  favor  in  thy  sight, 
put,  I  pray  thee,  thy  hand  under  my  thigh,  and  deal  kindly  and  truly 
with  me:  bury  me  uot.  I  pray  thee,  in  Egypt. 

30  but  when  I  sleep  with  my  fathers,  thou  shalt  carry  me  out  of 
Egypt,  and  bury  me  in  their  burying-place.  And  he  said,  I  will  do  as 
thou  hast  said. 

31  And  he  said,  Swear  unto  me ;  and  he  sware  unto  him.  And 
Israel  bowed  himself  upon  the  bed's  head. 

Jacob  had  passed  seventeen  years  tranquilly  in  Egypt,  living 
but  a  short  distance  from  his  son  Josepti  (ch.  45:  10),  when 
he  drew  near  to  the  inevitable  hour  of  death.  He  sent  therefore 
and  called  Joseph,  and  exacted  of  him  a  promise  that  he  would 
carry  his  mortal  remains  to  Canaan,  and  bury  him  in  the 
sepulchre  of  his  fathers.  And  when  Joseph  promised  so  to  do, 
be  was  not  satisfied,  but  required  of  him  a  solemn  oath  to 
that  effect.  The  form  of  this  oath,  with  the  hand  beneath  his 
thigh  is  the  same  that  Abraham  made  use  of  when  he  sent 
his  steward  in  search  of  a  wife  for  bis  son  Isaac  (ch.  24:  2,  3); 
both  of  them  cases  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  in  which 
it  would  be  extremely  easy  to  frustrate  completely  the  purpose 
in  view,  without  the  possibility  of  a  remedy.  Only  in  these 
two  cases  have  we  notice  of  the  use  of  this  form  of  oath. 
The  importance  of  this  oath  which  Jacob  exacted  of  Joseph 
did  not,  I  think,  turn  on  the  natural  desire,  very  ordinary  among 
people  of  all  nations  (see  2  Sam.  19:  37),  to  be  buried  near 
the  mortal  remains  of  their  fathers.  The  form  of  the  oath  com- 
municated a  special  solemnity  to  the  promise  and  the  oath, 
and  in  both  cases  it  seems  to  make  allusion  to  the  covenant  of 
circumcision,  and  to  the  faith  in  the  coming  redemption,  sealed 
by  this  rite.  Rom.  4:6.  It  is  clear  that  Jacob  looked  to  the 
promise  given  to  Abraham,  in  not  consenting  that  his  remains 
should  rest  anywhere  else  but  in  the  land  of  his  inheritance. 
The  apostle  regards  it  as  a  singular  act  of  faith  in  Joseph — 
the  only  one  in  fact  which  he  mentions — that  "Joseph  when 
he  was  dying  made  mention  of  the  departure  of  the  children 
of  Israel,  and  gave  commandment  concerning  his  bones."  Heb. 
11:  22.  See  ch.  50:  24,  25.  In  this  we  are  of  course  to  see 
faith  in  the  earthly  and  temporal  promises  given  to  Abraham, 
that  his  seed  should  take  possession  of  the  promised  land  at 
the  end  of  four  hundred  years  (ch.  15:  13 — 16);  but  Calvin,  and 
I  think  with  good  cause,  carries  the  faith  of  those  ancient  patri- 
archs much  farther  than  that, — as  looking  beyond  the  grave, 
"to  the  spectacle  of  the  future  renovation";  and  adds  that  Jacob, 


500  GENESIS 

"to  testify  to  his  posterity  that  the  hope  of  the  promised  land 
did  not  forsalie  his  heart  even  in  death,  commands  his  remains 
to  be  re-conveyed  there."    Institutes,  Book  III,  Ch.  25,  Sec.  8. 

The  last  sentence  of  the  chapter  has  been  the  occasion  of 
not  a  little  dispute.  The  ancient  Hebrew  language,  as  written, 
had  consonants  or  radical  letters,  but  no  vowels;  these  every 
reader  supplied  for  himself,  as  in  our  old  style  of  short-hand; 
so  that  we  may  read  here  "the  head  of  his  bed,"  or  "the  head 
(or  top)  of  his  staff,"  according  as  the  three  consonants,  m,  t,  h 
be  read  mittah  or  matteh.  The  Greek  translators,  before  vowels 
were  added  to  the  Hebrew  text,  as  we  now  have  it,  gave  their 
choice  to  the  second,  and  translated,  in  the  LXX:  "he  wor- 
shipped on  the  top  of  his  staff" — the  reading  that  is  followed 
by  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  But  when  the 
Masorites  came  to  put  vowels  to  the  text,  in  the  sixth  century 
after  Christ,  they  chose  that  it  should  read  "bed"  and  not  "staff"; 
and  thus  we  have  the  two  different  readings  in  the  book  of 
Genesis  and  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews:  "he  bowed  himself 
on  the  head  of  the  bed,"  in  Genesis,  and  "he  tvorshipped  (lean- 
ing) on  the  top  of  his  staff"  in  Hebrews.  Some  maintain  that 
it  could  not  be  "the  head  of  his  bed,"  inasmuch  as  the  Orientals 
did  not  use,  and  do  not  use,  the  bed-stead,  but  only  mats  or 
rugs  spread  upon  the  floor;  and  because  Jacob,  although  near 
to  the  time  of  his  death  (vr.  29),  was  not,  they  say,  yet  sick, 
nor  kept  his  bed.  But  although  all  this  were  more  certain  than 
it  really  is  (see  Deut.  3:  11,  "o  bed-stead  of  iron";  ch.  49:  4, 
"thou  wentest  up  to  my  bed";  Ps.  132:  3,  "I  will  not  go  up  to 
my  bed";  and  Mark  4:  21,  "to  put  a  lamp  under  the  bed"),  the 
point  is  of  no  great  importance.  The  patriarch,  being  fully 
satisfied  with  this  important  arrangement,  bowed  himself  upon 
the  head  of  his  bed,  although  it  were  no  more  than  the  rug 
on  which  he  lay,  or  "he  stayed  himself  on  the  extremity,  or  top, 
of  his  staff,"  and  worshipped  God,  in  the  firm  faith  of  the  exact 
fulfilment    of    his    promises. 

"What  is  of  most  importance  is  the  mistranslation  that  we 
find  in  Roman  Catholic  Bibles,  to  wit,  "he  adored  the  top  of 
his  rod";  with  the  understanding,  as  the  note  of  Bishop  Amat 
explains  it,  that  the  rod  was  probably  that  of  Joseph,  and  the 
symbol  of  his  authority,  "in  whom  he  saw  prefigured  the  Mes- 
siah"; ["a  figure  of  Christ's  sceptre  and  kingdom,"  says  the 
Rheims'  New  Testament,  of  Archbishop  Hughes, — Tr.]; — and  so 
a  worthy  object  of  adoration!  But  the  Hebrew  text,  and  the 
Greek  of  the  LXX,  and  the  latter  as  cited  in  Heb.  11 :  21,  all 
three   say    he   "bowed    himself   ON    the   head    of    his   bed";    or 


CHAPTER  48:  1—7  501 

"he  worshipped  ON  the  top  of  his  staff," — a  little  word  which 
the  Roman  Catholic  Versions  omit,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
it  appear  that  the  patriarch  Jacob  worshipped,  as  they  do,  a 
piece  of  wood!  The  word  "leaning"  in  our  versions  of  Gen. 
47:  31  and  Heb.  11:  21,  are  in  italics;  which  means  to  say  that 
they  are  not  found  in  the  original  text;  but  "worshipped  on  the 
top  of  his  staff"  indicates  clearly  not  the  object  of  his  adoration, 
but  that  on  which  the  sick  old  man  sustained  himself  while  wor- 
shipping God. 

CHAPTER  XLVin. 

VRS.    1 — 7.      JOSEPH   VISITS    HIS   FATHER,    HEARING   THAT   HE   IS    SICK. 
(1689   B.   C.) 

1  And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  one  said  to  J[oseph, 
Behold,  thy  father  is  sick :  and  he  took  with  him  his  two  sons  Manas- 
seh  and  Ephraim. 

2  And  one  told  Jacob,  and  said.  Behold,  thy  son  Joseph  cometh 
unto  thee :   and  Israel  strengthened  himself,  and  sat  upon  the  bed. 

3  And  Jacob  said  unto  Joseph,  God  Almighty  appeared  unto  me 
at  Luz  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  blessed  me. 

4  and  said  unto  me.  Behold,  I  will  make  thee  fruitful,  and  multi- 
ply thee,  and  I  will  make  of  thee  a  company  of  peoples,  and  will  give 
this  land  to  thy  seed  after  thee  for  an  everlasting  possession. 

5  And  now  thy  two  sons,  who  were  born  unto  thee  in  the  land  of 
Egypt  before  I  came  unto  thee  into  Egypt,  are  mine  :  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh,  even  as  Reuben  and  Simeon,  shall  be  mine. 

G  And  thy  issue,  that  thou  begettest*  after  them,  shall  be  thine ; 
they  shall  be  called  after  the  name  of  their  brethren  in  their  inherit- 
ance. 

7  And  as  for  me,  when  I  came  from  Paddan,  Rachel  died  by  me  in 
the  land  of  Canaan  in  the  way,  when  there  was  still  some  distance  to 
come  unto  Ephrath  :  and  I  buried  her  there  in  the  way  to  Ephrath 
(the  same  is  Beth-lehem). 

*0r,  hast  begotten. 

On  this  occasion  Jacob  did  not  send  to  call  Joseph,  but  he, 
hearing  that  his  father  was  sick,  took  with  him  his  two  sons, 
Manasseh  and  Ephraim  (who  were  then  between  twenty-two 
and  twenty-five  years  of  age,  ch.  41:  50),  and  went  to  see  him. 
Jacob  also  was  notified  of  the  visit  of  his  son.  He  therefore 
made  an  effort  (z=strengthened  himself),  and  sat  up  in  bed. 
With  firm  faith  in  the  promises  of  God,  he  related  the  revelation 
that  he  had  in  Bethel,  or  Luz,  after  his  return  from  Padan-aram 
and  the  great  promises  that  God  there  made  to  him  personally, 
and  to  his  descendants, — promises  in  comparison  of  which  the 
worldly  glories  of  Joseph  and  those  of  his  two  sons,  as  Egyptian 
princes,  were  in  his  esteem  as  worthless  things.  In  this  con- 
fidence, the  aged  patriarch  disposes  of  that  which  his  God 
had  given  him,  with  even  greater  confidence  than  he  would  dis- 
pose of   his  worldly   estate,   endowing  the  two   sons   of   Joseph 


502  GENESIS 

with  part  thereof,  as  something  incomparably  better  than  all 
the  brilliant  prospects  which  they  had,  as  princes  of  Egypt. 
Surely  a  triumphant  faith  in  the  divine  promises,  a  justifying 
faith  which  overcomes  the  world,  and  rejoices  in  hope  of  the 
glory  of  God,  was  necessary  in  order  that  Jacob,  a  stranger 
in  the  land  of  Egypt,  sick  and  near  to  die,  could  thus  speak  of 
the  future  blessings  of  those  who  have  part  in  "the  covenants  of 
the  promise!"     Eph.  2:  12. 

It  would  seem  that  Joseph  and  the  Egyptian  princess,  Asenath, 
had  no  children  except  these  two;  but  to  guard  against  the  pos- 
sibility that  they  might  have  others,  Jacob,  as  a  prudent  father, 
In  this  testamentary  declaration  of  his  last  will,  made  provi- 
sion for  such  a  case,  adopting  as  Ms  own  the  two  sons  whom 
Joseph  had  before  the  coming  of  his  father,  and  arranging  that 
any  other  sons  he  then  had,  or  might  afterwards  have,  should 
be  incorporated  with  the  tribe  of  either  of  the  two.  Truly  sublime 
is  the  operation  of  faith  in  this  aged  servant  of  God,  who  thus 
disposed  of  the  events  of  future  ages,  with  the  security  and  cer- 
tainty of  one  who  has  them  already  in  hand! 

What  he  ordained,  then,  was  that  there  should  be  thirteen 
tribes  of  Israel,  counting  each  of  the  eleven  brothers  of  Joseph 
as  one,  and  Joseph  himself  as  two;  and  thus  in  fact  it  happened; 
only,  as  the  sacerdotal  tribe  of  Levi  had  no  part  in  the  ter- 
ritorial division  of  the  land  of  promise,  but  was  scattered 
rather  throughout  48  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  other  tribes 
(Deut.  18:  1,  2;  Num.  35:  1 — 7),  the  nation  preserved  always  un- 
altered the  number  of  "the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel." 

While  he  was  thus  disposing  of  the  ample  and  sure  inheritance 
which  his  God  had  given  to  him  and  to  his  posterity,  it  is 
truly  touching  to  observe  how  the  spirit  of  the  old  and  almost 
dying  patriarch  turns  in  tenderness  to  the  mother  of  Joseph, 
his  beloved  Rachel,  whom  he  had  buried  on  the  road  to  Ephratah, 
or  Bethlehem,  forty  years  before,  when  he  lacked  but  a  little 
way  of  reaching  that  place.  If  Jacob  was  not  the  most  amiable 
of  the  ancient  patriarchs,  none  will  deny  him  the  title  of  having 
been  the  most  faithful  and  fervent  of  lovers; — a  rare  thing  among 
the  Orientals. 

48 :  8 — 16.    JACOB  blesses  Joseph,  in  the  peeson  of  his  two  sons. 
(1689   B.   c.) 

8  And  Israel  beheld  Joseph's  sons,  and  said,  Who  are  these? 

9  And  Joseph  said  unto  his  father,  They  are  my  sons,  whom  God 
hath  given  me  here.     And  he  said,  Bring  them,  I  pray  thee,  unto  me, 

•  and  I  will  bless  them. 

10  Now  the  eyes  of  Israel  were  dim  for  age,  so  that  he  could  not 


CHAPTER  48:  8--1G  503 

«ee.     Arnl  lie  brought  them  near  unto  him  ;  and  he  kissed  them,  and 
embraced  them. 

11  And  Israel  said  unto  Joseph,  I  had  not  thought  to  see  thy 
face :  and,  lo,  God  hath  let  me  see  thy  seed  also. 

12  And  Joseph  brought  them  out  from  between  his  knees ;  and  lie 
bowed  hhuself  with  his  face  to  the  earth. 

13  And  Joseph  took  them  both,  Ephraim  in  his  right  hand  to- 
ward Israel's  left  hand,  and  Manasseh  in  his  left  hand  toward  Israel's 
right  hand,  and  brought  them  near  unto  him. 

14  And  Isriiel  stretched  out  his  right  hand,  and  laid  it  upon 
Ephraim's  head,  who  was  the  younger,  and  his  left  hand  upon  Manas- 
seh's  head,  guiding  his  hands  wittingly ;  for  Manasseh  was  the  first- 
born. 

15  And  he  blessed  Joseph,  and  said.  The  God  before  whom  my 
fathers  Abraham  and  Isaac  did  walk,  the  God  who  hath  fed  me  all 
my  life  long  unto  this  day, 

16  the  angel  who  hath  redeemed  me  from  all  evil,  bless  the  lads ; 
and  let  my  name  be  named  on  them,  and  the  name  of  my  fathers 
Abraham  and  Isaac;  and  let  them  grow  into  a  multitude  in  the 
midst  of  the  earth. 

In  all  this  time  Jacob  had  not  perceived  the  two  sons  of 
Joseph;  for  his  eyes  were  dimmed  through  age,  so  that  he  could 
no  longer  see;  but  a  movement  of  theirs,  or  something  else 
made  him  at  this  moment  conscious  of  their  presence,  and  on 
asking  who  they  were,  Joseph  informed  him  that  they  were 
the  same  of  whom  he  had  just  been  speaking, — "the  children 
whom  God  has  given  me  in  this  place": — according  to  Oriental 
usage,  Joseph  had  not  introduced  them  when  he  came  in.  Jacob 
therefore  told  him  to  bring  them  near  to  him,  that  he  might 
bless  them;  and  when  he  had  done  so,  Jacob  kissed  and  embraced 
them.  It  is  evident  that  Jacob  was  sitting  on  the  edge  of  a 
bed  that  was  elevated  above  the  floor;  otherwise  he  would  not 
have  been  able  to  perform  these  acts  as  they  are  related  in 
the  text.  Every  action  of  the  old  man  is  extremely  natural 
here,  even  his  exclamation,  while  he  was  embracing  the  two 
young  men:  "I  had  not  thought  to  see  thy  face;  and  lo,  God 
hath  made  me  to  see  they  seed  also!"  According  to  the  Modern 
Spanish  Version,  Jacob  was  seated  on  his  bed,  and  the  two  young 
men  were  standing  between  his  knees.  As  he  had  kissed  and 
embraced  them,  it  is  evident  they  could  not  then  be  between 
the  knees  of  Joseph.  Joseph,  therefore,  took  them  from  between 
his  father's  knees,  and  with  veneration  the  august  governor  of 
Egypt  bowed  himself  before  his  father,  not  merely  with  the 
reverence  which  children  owe  to  their  parents,  but  to  receive 
himself,  together  with  his  sons,  the  blessing  of  the  prophet  of 
God  (comp.  ch.  20:  7)  and  the  heir  of  the  promises.  After 
this,  he  placed  them  in  the  proper  position  to  receive  the  blessing, 
Manasseh,  the  first-born,  towards  the  right  hand  of  the  patriarch, 
and  Ephraim  towards  his  left;  and  in  this  order  he  made  them 
again  approach  his  father. 


504  GENESIS 

It  seems  evident  that  it  was  the  purpose  and  desire  of  Jacob 
to  transfer  to  Joseph,  his  favorite  son  (the  son  of  his  only 
proper  and  legitimate  wife;  so  rated  in  ch.  46:  19)  the  birthright 
of  which  Reuben  had  deprived  himself  by  his  shameful  crime 
(ch.  49:3,  4);  in  which  case  Manasseh,  in  the  succession  of 
Joseph,  would  have  been  the  chiefest  of  the  tribes  of  Israel. 
But  Joseph  did  not  more  than  half  execute  his  purpose,  that 
being  adverse  to  the  purpose  of  God;  with  whom  Judah  (whose 
personal  character  was  not  comparable  with  that  of  Joseph) 
was,  and  was  to  continue,  "the  chief"  or  "prince"  (see  1st 
Chron.  5:  2;  28:  4;  comp.  49:  10);  so  that  in  the  blessings  pro- 
nounced in  the  following  chapter,  we  see  clearly  that  the  prince- 
dom remained  with  Judah,  although  Jacob  lavished  on  Joseph 
all  the  treasures  of  his  personal  affection. 

In  any  case,  his  purpose  and  desire  were  sufficiently  marked 
for  Ephraim  (who  obtained  the  pre-eminence  above  Manasseh, 
and  like  him,  carried  in  his  veins  the  noblest  blood  of  Egypt) 
to  make  himself  always,  and  even  till  the  destruction  of  the 
rival  kingdom  of  Israel,  to  continue  to  be,  the  proud,  formidable, 
jealous  and  untiring  rival  of  Judah.  Isa.  11:  13.  It  is  said  in 
1st  Chron.  5:  1,  2  that  the  birthright  of  Reuben  icas  given  to 
the  sons  of  Joseph;  of  whom  Jacob  here  gives  the  precedence 
to  Ephraim.  Yet  it  is  certain  that  the  birthright  remained  with 
Manasseh  (Jos.  17:  1 — 5,  6),  and  he  had  two  lots  in  the  division 
of  the  promised  land,  one  on  each  side  of  the  river  Jordan;  but 
Ephraim  always  had,  or  always  took,  the  precedence  of  him. 

Jacob,  therefore,  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  inspiration,  placed 
the  younger  above  the  elder,  and  put  Ephraim  before  Manasseh, 
without  his  knowing  the  young  men,  so  as  to  have  any  preference 
of  his  own,  and  without  being  able  to  see  them,  so  as  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  two.  Crossing  his  hands  (contrary  to 
the  plan  and  purpose  of  Joseph  on  presenting  them  before  him 
in  their  proper  order),  he  placed  his  right  hand  upon  the  head 
of  Ephraim  and  his  left  upon  that  of  Manasseh,  and  in 
this  manner  "he  blessed  Joseph,"  in  blessing  his  two  sons. 
The  form  of  this  blessing  is  very  notable.  It  is  not  the  Supreme 
Being  whom  he  invokes,  nor  simply  "God,  Most  High,  possessor 
of  the  heavens  and  the  earth"  (ch.  14:  22),  but  "the  God  be- 
fore whom  my  fathers,  Abraham  and  Isaac  did  walk,  the  God 
who  hath  fed  me  [M.  S.  V.,  "who  hath  been  my  Shepherd,"  Heb. 
the  one  shepherding  me]  all  my  life  long  until  this  day,  the 
Angel  who  hath  redeemed  me  from  all  evil,  bless  the  lads;  and 
let  my  name  be  named  upon  them,  and  the  name  of  my  fathers 
Abraham  and  Isaac,  and  let  them  grow  into  a  multitude  in  the 


CHAPTER  48:  17—22  505 

midst  of  the  earth!"  We  live  in  days  in  which  all  sorts  of 
people  speak  of  God,  and  say  they  believe  in  him;  it  is  there- 
fore important  for  us  to  learn  from  Jacob  not  to  be  deceived 
by  appearances,  but  to  make  clear  and  plain  who  is  the  God 
we  believe  in.  What  is  more  important  than  to  "believe  in 
God,"  is  to  believe  in  the  only  true  God,  Jehovah,  the  God  of 
Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob;  the  God 
and  Father  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  "who  spared  not  his  own 
Son  (his  "only  begotten  Son"),  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all," 
that  we  "should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life."  Rom. 
8:  32;  John  3:  16.  No  other  "God,"  is  the  living  and  true  God. 
It  is  important  to  note  that  vrs.  15,  16  speak  of  "the  Angel" 
as  one  and  the  same  person  as  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  of 
Isaac,  and  the  God  who  was  Jacob's  Shepherd:  in  the  Hebrew 
text,  the  same  verb,  in  the  singular  number,  governs  all  three. 
Jacob  then  designates  and  distinguishes  him  under  three  differ- 
ent aspects:  first,  the  God  who  called  Abraham,  and  before 
whom  he  and  Isaac  walked;  second,  the  God  who  had  been  his 
Pastor  (as  David  celebrates  him  in  the  23rd  Psalm)  from  his 
earliest  existence;  and  third,  ''the  Angel  who  hath  redeemed 
me  from  all  evil."  See  Note  22,  on  the  "Angel  of  Jehovah," 
ch.  16:  7 — 10.  "The  Angel"  {—the  sent  one)  his  Redeemer, 
points,  as  with  the  finger,  to  Gal.  4:4,  5:  "When  the  fulness 
of  the  time  was  come,  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman, 
made  under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law, 
that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons." 

48:  17 — 22.    Joseph  insists  on  the  primogeniture  of  manasseh; 
but  jacob  insists  on  assigning  to  ephbaim  the  pre-eminence. 

(1689  B.  C.) 

17  And  when  Joseph  saw  that  his  father  laid  his  right  hand  upon 
the  head  of  Eplnaim,  it  displeased  him  :  and  he  held  up  his  father's 
hand,  to  remove  it  from  Ephraim's  head  unto  Manasseh's  head. 

18  And  Joseph  said  unto  his  father,  Not  so,  my  father ;  for  this  is 
the  first-born ;  put  thy  right  hand  upon  his  head. 

19  And  his  father  refused,  and  said,  I  know  it,  my  son,  I  know  it; 
he  also  shall  become  a  people,  and  he  also  shall  be  great :  howbeit  his 
younger  brother  shall  be  greater  than  he,  and  his  seed  shall  become  a 
multitude  of  nations. 

20  And  he  blessed  them  that  day,  saying.  In  thee  will  Israel  bless, 
saying,  God  make  thee  as  Ephraim  and  as  Manasseh :  and  he  set 
Ephraim  before   Manasseh. 

21  And  Israel  said  unto  Joseph,  Behold,  I  die;  but  God  will  be 
with  you,  and  bring  you  again  unto  the  land  of  your  fathers. 

22  Moreover  I  have  given  to  thee  one  portion  above  thy  brethren, 
which  I  took  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Amorite  with  my  sword  and  with 
my  bow. 

Jacob  through  malice  and  deceit  had  taken  away  from  Esau 


506  GENESIS 

the  birthright  and  the  blessing:  Joseph  did  not  wish  that  by- 
error  of  his  father,  Manasseh  should  suffer  the  loss  of  his, 
and  he  endeavored  to  correct  what  he  took  to  be  a  mistake  on 
his  father's  part;  but  the  patriarch  gave  him  to  understand 
that  he  knew  perfectly  what  he  was  doing,  and  that  in  fact, 
without  regard  to  the  merits  or  demerits  of  either  of  the  two, 
but  by  the  allotment  of  God,  the  younger  should  be  greater 
than  the  elder.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  how  often,  from  the 
beginning,  God  has  preferred  the  younger  above  the  elder,  al- 
though he  himself  established,  as  a  general  rule,  the  rights 
of  primogeniture,  in  his  word  (Deut.  21:15 — 17): — Abel  before 
Cain;  Shem  before  Japheth;  Abraham  before  Haran  and  Nahor; 
Isaac  before  Ishmael;  Jacob  before  Esau;  Joseph  before  Reu- 
ben; Ephraim  before  Manasseh;  Moses  before  Aaron;  David 
before  his  seven  elder  brothers,  and  Solomon  before  the  other 
sons  of  David.  Jacob  continues  blessing  Joseph  in  the  person 
of  his  sons,  saying:  "In  thee  will  Israel  bless,  saying:  God 
make  thee  as  Ephraim,  and  as  Manasseh!" 

With  perfect  calmness,  Jacob  added:  "Behold  I  die;  but  God 
will  be  with  you  and  bring  you  again  unto  the  land  of  your 
fathers!"  It  is  evident  that  a  triumphant  faith  in  God  and  in  his 
promises  of  coming  redemption,  had  completely  taken  away  from 
Jacob  the  fear  of  death. 

The  last  verse  of  the  chapter  is  very  difficult.  We  know  that 
a  double  portion  of  the  inheritance  appertained  to  the  rights 
of  primogeniture  (Deut.  21:  16,  17),  which  it  seems  that  Jacob 
with  half  disguised  words  wished  to  transfer  to  his  pious  and 
favorite  son,  Joseph;  we  know  also  that  in  the  division  of  the 
land,  Joseph  (that  is  to  say,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh)  received 
three  tribal  divisions  of  the  land,  two  to  the  west  of  the  Jordan 
and  one  to  the  east,  any  one  of  the  three  being  larger  than 
the  lot  of  either  of  the  other  tribes,  with  the  sole  exception 
of  Judah;  and  in  this  sense,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  faring  "as 
Reuben  and  Simeon,"  received  each  one  a  separate  lot,  and 
the  additional  one  was  given  to  Manasseh,  who  was  really  the 
first-born,  and  retained  the  birthright.  1  Chron.  5:1,  2.  We 
know  also  that  "the  parcel  of  ground  which  Jacob  gave  to  his 
son  Joseph"  (John  4:  5),  was  located  near  to  Sichar,  the  ancient 
Shechem;  so  that  this  portion  was  not  more  than  a  small  part 
of  the  territory  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  of  which  Shechem  was 
the  principal  city.  We  know  still  farther,  that  Jacob  bought 
a  parcel  of  ground  in  front  of  that  city,  from  the  sons  of 
Hamor  (ch.  33:19);  which  well  corresponds  with  the  parcel 
of  ground   where   was,  and   still   is   found,   Jacob's   well.     John 


CHAPTER  49:  1,  2  507 

»:  5,  6.  But  Jacob's  taking  it  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Amorite 
with  his  sword  and  tcith  Jiis  how,  is  something  of  which  we 
have  no  other  notice  in  the  word  of  God,  it  being  morally  im- 
possible, that  he  refers  to  the  sword  of  Simeon  and  Levi,  and 
the  horrible  reprisals  which  they  took  in  that  city  for  the  dis- 
honor done  to  their  sister.  Chapter  34.  It  seems  most  probable, 
though  not  elsewhere  mentioned,  that  Jacob,  having  withdrawn 
from  that  possession  which  he  had  bought,  the  Amorites  oc- 
cupied it;  and  refusing  afterwards  to  give  it  up  to  Jacob,  he 
found  himself  obliged  to  cast  them  out  by  force. 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 

VBS.   1,  2.     JACOB  SKETCHES  PEOPHETICALLY  FOB  HIS   SONS  THE  CHAB- 
ACTEB  AND  FUTURE  LOT  OF  THEIB  RESPECTIVE  TBIBES.      (1689  B.  C.) 

1  And  Jacob  called  unto  his  sons,  and  said :  Gather  yourselves 
together,  that  I  may  tell  you  that  which  shall  befall  you  in  the  latter 
days. 

2  Assemble  yourselves,  and  hear,  ye  sons  of  Jacob ; 
And  hearken  unto  Israel  your  father. 

This  chapter  is  not  properly  a  chapter  of  blessings,  although 
vr.  28  so  calls  it  in  a  general  way;  because  the  three  first 
sons  received  no  blessing  at  all,  but  rather  a  malediction.  Vr.  1 
properly  characterizes  it  as  a  declaration  of  the  things  that 
were  to  happen  to  them  "in  days  to  come,"  as  reads  the  Mod. 
Span.  Version.*  The  form  is  poetic,  and  like  poetry,  and  im- 
passioned poetry,  it  is  to  be  interpreted.  Aside  from  the  poetic 
conception,  and  from  that  exaggeration,  or  poetic  license,  which 
Is  proper  to  all  Oriental  poetry,  Hebrew  poetry  is  characterized 
by  the  repetition  of  the  same  thought  two,  three  or  even  four 
times,  in  different  forms,  or  by  contrasting  therewith  the  op- 
posite form  of  statement;  with  the  object  of  explaining,  con- 
firming or  giving  emphasis  to  the  principal  affirmation. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  the  poetic  form,  in  all  languages, 
consists  in  repetition — the  repetition  of  metrical  cadences,  the 
repetition  of  asonance  and  consonance,  in  the  final  syllables 
of  the  "verses,"  or  the  repetition  of  a  certain  number  and  arrange- 
ment of  accents  in  each  line.  None  of  these  things  are  found, 
except  very  rarely,  in  Hebrew  poetry,  but  rather,  as  just  said, 
the  repetition  of  the  same  thought  in  different  forms  of  words, 

♦Conant's  translation,  "in  after  days"  is  certainly  better  than  "in  the 
latter  days,"  as  given  by  the  A.  V.,  R.  V.  and  the  Am.  Revision.  Most 
unfortunately,  as  I  think,  the  Revisers  did  not  always  regard  it  as  the 
translator's  business  to  put  the  meaning  of  the  writer  in  easy  reach  of 
the  reader. — Tr. 


508  GENESIS 

or  contrasting  it  with  an  opposite  form  of  statement.     See  Ex. 
15:  1 — 18,  and  comments. 

49:  3,  4.    EEUBEN  (first  son  of  Leah). 

3  Reuben,  thou  are  my  first-born,  my  might,  and  the  beginning  of 

my  strength; 
The  pre-eminence  of  dignity,  and  the  pre-eminence  of  power. 

4  Boiling  over  as  water,  thou  shalt  not  liave  the  pre-eminence ; 
Because  thou  wentest  up  to  thy  father's  bed ; 

Then  defiledst  thou  it :  he  went  up  to  my  couch. 

By  birth,  pre-eminence  in  dignity  and  power  was  his;  but 
by  his  unbridled  passions  he  cast  himself  down  headlong,  and 
fell  into  merited  contempt.  "Boiling  over  as  water"  elegantly 
expresses  the  overflow  of  those  sensual  passions  which  caused 
his  great  sin  against  his  father,  of  incest  and  adultery.  In 
going  up  to  his  father's  bed,  he  defiled  it;  or,  according  to 
another  rendering,  instead  of  "then  defiledst  thou  (it),"  we 
have:  "then  thou  madest  (thyself)  vile."  And  both  senses  are 
equally  appropriate:  then  it  was  that  he  precipitated  himself 
from  his  pre-eminence  of  dignity  and  power.    Ch.  25:  21,  22. 

Reuben  was  a  man  of  good  and  humane  instincts,  and  for 
these  he  distinguished  himself  among  all  his  brethren  when 
Joseph  was  sold  and  carried  into  Egypt  (ch.  37:22,  29);  but 
he  was  impassioned  and  inconsiderate,  and  for  this  cause  he 
offered  that  his  father,  migJit  kill  two  of  his  four  sons  if  he 
would  entrust  Benjamin  to  him  and  he  should  fail  to  bring 
him  back;  he  was  of  a  weak  character,  and  so  his  brethren 
and  his  father  made  little  account  of  his  words  and  offers; 
he  was  also  unchaste,  and  a  slave  of  sensual  passions.  And 
the  characteristics  of  the  father,  it  would  seem,  were  perpetuated 
(as  it  often  happens)  in  his  descendants.  The  tribe  of  Reuben 
never  attained  to  any  distinction  in  Israel:  it  never  produced 
one  distinguished  man:  and  Deborah  in  her  song  of  victory 
mocked  and  upbraided  the  warriors  of  Reuben,  who  in  the  day 
of  battle  "sat  among  the  sheep-folds  to  hear  the  bleatings  (or 
pipings)  of  the  flock";  and  their  "great  determinations  of  heart" 
came  to  end  "in  great  deliberations  of  heart."  Judg.  5:  15,  16. 
Mod.  Span.  Ver. 

49:  5—7.    SIMEON  and  Levi  (second  and  third  sons  of  Leah). 

5  Simeon  and  Levi  are  brethren ; 
Weapons   of   violence  are   their  swords.* 

6  O  my  soul,  come  not  thou  into  their  council : 
Unto  their  assembly,  my  glory,  be  not  thou  united ; 

'^Or,  compacts. 


CHAPTER  49:  5—7  509 

For  in  their  anprer  they  slew  a  man,t 
And  in  their  self-will  they  hocked  an  ox.J 
7     Cursed  be  their  anger,  for  it  was  fierce; 
And  their  wrath,  for  it  was  cruel : 
I  will  divide  them  in  Jacob, 
And  scatter  them  in  Israel, 

tO)%  men.  tOr,  oxen. 

Several  of  the  expressions  used  here  are  of  doubtful  significa- 
tion. Instead  of  "compacts,"  others  say  "arms"  or  "swords"; 
and  instead  of  "they  hocked  oxen,"  others  say:  "they  digged 
down  a  wall."  But  the  general  sense  comes  to  the  same  thing, 
although  the  specifications  be  different.  The  violence  done  to  their 
sister  Dinah  made  them  unsheath  their  swords;  but  it  did  not 
justify  or  excuse  the  atrocities  which  they  committed,  in  spite  of 
the  honorable  reparation  which,  generously  and  without  stint, 
Shechem  and  his  father  Hamor  offered  to  make.  It  seems  that 
the  two  were  distinguished  by  the  ardent  temperament,  jealous 
and  revengeful,  which  on  this  occasion  was  guilty  of  such  folly 
and  madness  that  nothing  but  the  prompt  interposition  of  God  was 
able  to  save  the  encampment  of  Jacob  from  utter  extermination 
by  the  outraged  inhabitants  of  the  surrounding  cities.  Ch.  34:  30; 
35:  5.  The  curse  which  their  father  pronounced  on  them  pro- 
phetically was 

"I  will  divide  them  in  Jacob, 

and  scatter  them  in  Israel." 

This  was  fulfilled  in  a  very  different  manner  in  the  two  tribes. 
It  is  common  in  our  Biblical  maps,  to  locate  the  tribe  of  Simeon 
on  the  south  of  the  tribe  of  Judah;  but  Josh.  19:  1,  9,  tells  us 
expressly  that  the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  was  too  large, 
and  that  the  lot  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  of  Simeon  fell  to  them 
"in  the  midst  of  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  Judah";  and 
after  the  division  of  the  nation  into  two  kingdoms,  we  are  told 
that  in  days  of  Asa  and  of  Hezekiah,  "strangers  of  Ephraim,  of 
Manasseh,  and  of  Simeon"  and  of  the  cities  of  these  tribes,  came 
up  to  Jerusalem;  giving  us  to  understand  that  a  part  of  Simeon, 
separated  from  the  part  which  was  in  Judah,  remained  attached 
to  the  kingdom  of  the  north  (2  Chron.  15:  9  and  34:  6) ;  so  that 
Simeon  seems  never  to  have  had  a  proper  and  independent  tribal 
existence. 

In  regard  to  the  tribe  of  Levi,  the  case  was  different.  On  ac- 
count of  his  ardent  zeal,  and  his  impassioned  defence  of  the  cause 
of  Moses  and  of  God,  at  the  critical  period  of  the  worship  of  the 
golden  calf  (Ex.  32:  25,  and  Deut.  33:  8 — 11),  their  curse  was 
turned  into  a  blessing;  and  though  they  were  in  fact  "divided  in 
Jacob,  and  scattered  in  Israel,"  they  were  thus  parceled  out  the 


510  GENESIS 

better  to  perform  the  office  of  priests  and  Levites  among  the  peo- 
ple; occupying  forty-eight  important  cities  scattered  through  the 
entire  nation,  rather  than  a  distinct  territory  which  was  properly 
their  own.     Num.  35:  7,  8;  Josh.  21:  1—42. 

49:  8 — 12.     JUDAH  (fourth  son  of  Leah). 

8  Judah,  thee  shall  thy  brethren  praise : 

Thy  hand  shall  be  on  the  neck  of  thine  enemies; 
Thy  father's  sons  shall  bow  down  before  thee. 

9  Judah  is  a  lion's  whelp; 

From  the  prey,  my  son,  thou  art  gone  up : 
He  stooped  down,  he  couched  as  a  lion, 
And  as  a  lioness,  who  shall  rouse  him  up? 

10  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah, 
Nor  the  ruler's  staff  from  between  his  feet, 
Until   Shiloh  come  : 

And  unto  him  shall  the  obedience  of  the  peoples  be. 

11  Binding  his  foal  unto  the  vine, 

And  his  ass's  colt  unto  the  choice  vine ; 
He  hath  washed  his  garments  in  wine. 
And  his  vesture  in  the  blood  of  grapes  : 

12  His  eyes  shall  be  red  with  wine, 
And  his  teeth  white  with  milk. 

It  is  evident  that  the  moral  character  and  personal  deserts  of 
Judah  had  little  to  do  with  his  pre-eminence  among  his  brethren, 
or  that  of  his  tribe  among  the  "thousands  of  the  ten  thousands  of 
Israel."  The  part  which  he  took  in  the  act  of  treachery  perpe- 
trated against  Joseph,  and  his  slow  intervention  to  prevent  their 
taking  his  life  (ch.  37:  26,  27),  although  they  manifest  nerve, 
reveal  also  much  hardness  of  heart;  and  his  own  history  makes  it 
clear  that  in  his  private  life  he  was  little  better  than  a  pagan,  and 
that  the  general  character  of  his  immediate  family  agreed  well 
with  their  gentile  origin.  See  chapter  38.  But  whatever  may 
have  been  his  moral  and  religious  defects,  Judah  was  born  to  be  a 
prince  among  men,  and  his  brethren  and  his  father  always  recog- 
nized his  ascendency.  Ch.  37:  27;  43:  3,  4,  8,  9.  "Judah,  thee 
shall  thy  brethren  praise!"  and  these  same  personal  endowments 
were  perpetuated  in  his  posterity.  The  tribe  of  Judah  was  always 
of  recognized  predominence.  See  Judg.  1:  2;  20:  18.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  analyze  the  expressions  in  which  Jacob,  in  spite  of 
his  open  partiality  for  Joseph,  celebrates  the  distinguished 
personal  endowments  of  Judah  and  the  distinctive  traits  of  hia 
tribe.  As  poetic  and  hyperbolical  embellishments  they  are  very 
beautiful,  and  they  are  too  clear  to  need  any  explanation. 

But  vr.  10  contains  one  of  the  grandest  of  Messianic  prophecies, 
according  to  the  agreement  of  Jews  and  Christians,  and  well 
naerits  a  particular  attention.    Judah  was  to  be  the  royal  tribe,  an4 


CHAPTER  49:  8—12  511 

"From  him  the  sceptre  should  not  depart, 
nor  the  ruler's  staff  from  between  his  feet, 
until  Shiloh   (=the  Pacificator)   come; 
and   to   him   shall   be    (rendered)    the   obedience   of  the 
peoples   (or  nations)." 

There  is  no  dispute  between  Jews  and  Christians  with  regard 
to  the  terms  employed  in  this  great  prophecy,  and  little  or  none  in 
regard  to  their  meaning.  The  Jewish  Version  of  Isaac  Leeser, 
says:  "Until  Shiloh  come;  and  unto  him  shall  the  gathering 
of  the  people  be" — a  translation  which  he  takes  textually  from  the 
Common  English  Version.  The  Revised  Version  translates,  more 
correctly  perhaps: 

"Until  Shiloh  come; 

.  and  unto  him  shall  the  obedience  of  the  peoples  be." 
The  only  passage,  except  this,  in  which  the  word  translated  "obedi- 
ence" occurs,  is  Prov.  30:  17,  where  it  is  translated  "and  disdains 
to  obey  his  mother."  As  to  who  "Shiloh"  is,  there  is  also  no  dis- 
pute. All  confess  that  it  is  the  promised  Messiah,  of  whom  the 
Jews  say  that  he  is  yet  to  come;  and  the  Christians,  that  he  came 
once  to  suffer  for  us,  and  will  come  the  second  time  to  reign 
over  us,  and  to  give  to  his  people  the  promised  inheritance  of  glory 
and  immortality.  Heb.  9:  27,  28;  Matt.  16:  27;  25:  34,  41.  Of  the 
various  senses  which  are  given  to  the  word  "Shiloh,"  the  most 
probable  and  the  best,  in  my  opinion,  is  that  which  is  found  in 
the  text  of  the  Modern  Spanish  Version,  "the  Pacificator"  or  Peace- 
Maker — Prince  of  Peace.  Isaiah  9:  6. 
Of  him  many  Scriptures  say: 

"Unto  us  a  Child  is  born, 

unto  us  a  Son  is  given; 

and  the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder; 

and  his  name  shall  be  called:  'Wonderful,  Counselor, 

Mighty  God,  Everlasting  Father  [or  better,  "Father  of  the 
Eternal  Age"],  Prince  of  Peace.' 

Of  the  increase  of  his  government  and  of  peace  there  shall 
be  no  end,  upon  the  throne  of  David  and  upon  his 
kingdom,"  etc.  Isa.  9:  6,  7. 

"He  shall  speak  peace  to  the  nations."    Zech.  9:  10. 

"In  his  days  shall  the  righteous  flourish, 

and  abundance  of  peace  until  the  moon  be  no  more." 

Ps.  72:  7. 

"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest, 

and  on  earth  peace, 

Good  will  among  men!"    Luke  2:  14. 


512  GENESIS 

"With  regard  to  the  second  part — "to  him  shall  be  rendered  the 
obedience  of  the  nations,"  it  will  be  sufficient  to  cite  Ps.  72:  8 — 11: 

"He  shall  have  dominion  also  from  sea  to  sea, 

and  from  the  River  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

They  that  dwell  in  the  wilderness  shall  bov/  before  him; 

and  his  enemies  shall  lick  the  dust. 

The  kings  of  Tarshish  and  oi  the  Isles  shall  bring  presents; 

the  kings  of  Sheba  and  Seba  shall  offer  gifts. 

Yea  all  kings  shall  fall  down  before  him; 

all  nations  shall  serve  him." 

And  Phil.  2:9—11:  "Wherefore  also  God  hath  highly  exalted 
him,  and  hath  given  unto  him  the  name  which  is  above  every 
name;  that  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  every  knee  should  bow,  of 
things  in  heaven  and  things  on  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth, 
and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord, 
to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father. 

And  Matt.  6:  10:  "Thy  kingdom  come!  Thy  will  be  done,  as 
in  heaven,  so  on  earth!" 

In  the  parable  of  the  Tares  of  the  field,  Jesus  himself  teaches  us 
that  this  will  happen,  not  under  the  Christian  dispensation  in 
which  we  live,  but  "at  the  end  of  Age,"  in  "the  last  day,"  when 
"the  Son  of  man  shall  send  forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall 
gather  out  of  his  kingdom,  all  things  that  offend,  and  them  that 
do  iniquity,  and  shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire.  Then 
shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their 
father.  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear!"  Matt.  13:  41 
—43. 

Others  understand  that  "Shiloh"  (suppressing  the  h,  which 
is  not  essential)  is  the  same  as  "Siloah,"  or  "Siloam,"  and 
signifies  "the  sent  one"  John  9:  7 — "Him  whom  the  Father 
sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world."  (John  10:36);  and  this 
sense  is  good;  for  in  fact,  in  one  form  or  another,  Christ  calls 
himself  or  is  called,  the  sent  one  more  than  sixty  times  in 
the  New  Testament.  The  phrase  which  follows  may  also  be 
translated  as  in  the  English  Version:  "And  to  him  shall  the 
gathering  of  the  peoples  (or  nations)  be" — a  legitimate  and 
proper  sense,  which  will  be  best  explained  by  examining  Ps. 
102:  22;  Isa.  11:  10—12;  John  11:  32;  and  2  Thes.  2:  1.  This 
also  will  be  in  the  last  day, — the  day  of  the  Great  Assembly  (Luke 
13:  29) — and  thenceforward  forever. 

No  reader  should  allow  to  pass  unobserved  the  fact  that 
since  "Shiloh,"  the  "Sent  One,"  or  the  "Pacificator,"  has  come, 
"the  sceptre  has  passed  from  Judah,  and  the  governor  (or  law- 


CHAPTER  49:  13  513 

giver)  from  between  his  feet";  and  for  nineteen  centuries  the 
tribe  of  Judah  has  not  had  even  a  recognized  existence. 

49:  13.     ZEBULUN    (sixth  son  of  Leah). 

13    Zebulun  shall  dwell  at  the  haven  of  the  sea; 
And  he  shall  be  for  a  haveu  of  ships; 
And  his  border  shall  be  upon  Sidon. 

Some  of  our  maps  locate  the  tribe  of  Zebulun  as  lying  on 
the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  others  as  lying  on  the 
Sea  of  Galilee  (=:  Chinnereth,  Cinneroth  or  Gennesaret).  It 
seems  to  me  that  there  ought  not  to  be  any  doubt  on  this 
point,  when  we  observe  that  Matthew  says  that  Capernaum 
(which  was  situated  upon  the  Sea  of  Galilee),  was  "in  tho 
confines  (or  borders)  of  Zebulun  and  Naphtalim"  (=Naph- 
tali) ;  and  that  Jesus  in  establishing  himself  there  (having 
abandoned  Nazareth,  where  they  wished  to  cast  him  headlong 
down  a  precipice),  fulfilled  the  ancient  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  re- 
garding the  land  of  Zebulun  and  the  land  of  Nephthalim.  Matt. 
4:  13,  15,  and  Isa.  9:1,  2.  The  confines  of  these  two  tribes 
met  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  near  to  the  city  of  Capernaum;  al- 
though in  the  days  of  our  Lord  the  boundary  lines  of  the  tribes 
had  for  a  long  time  been  obliterated.  The  names  of  the  two 
always  go  associated  together  in  Scripture,  being  contiguous 
the  one  to  the  other;  and  although  sons  of  different  mothers, 
it  would  seem  that  both  they  and  their  descendants  were  very 
much  alike  in  disposition  and  character, — valiant  and  warlike. 
Of  them  Deborah  sang  in  her  triumphal  song: 

"Zebulun  was  a  people  that  jeoparded  their  lives  unto  the 

death, 
and  Naphtali,  upon  the  high  places  of  the  field." 

Judg.  5:  18. 

The  occupations  and  dangers  of  their  beautiful  sea  of  Cin- 
neroth (or  Lake  of  Gennesaret),  contributed  to  make  them 
valiant,  like  Simon  Peter  and  his  companions,  in  the  days  of 
Jesus;  who  were  almost  all  of  them  of  these  two  tribes.  The 
same  renown  of  valor  is  given  to  Zebulun  and  Naphtali,  among 
those  who  attended  at  the  inauguration  of  the  kingdom  of  David 
in  Hebron.     1  Chron.   12:  33,  34. 

With  regard  to  the  boundaries  of  Zebulun,  the  historian 
Josephus  says  (Antiq.  5:  1,  Sec.  22),  that  the  tribe  of  Zebulun 
extended  from  the  Lake  of  Gennesaret  as  far  as  Carmel  and 
the  Mediterranean;  which  gives  a  very  satisfactory  significa- 
tion to  what  is  said  here,  "his  side  (or  border)  shall  be  upon 
(or  by)   Sidon";  not  the  city  of  this  name,  which  was  50  miles 


514  GENESIS 

farther  to  the  north,  but  the  country  of  Phenicia,  which  in 
all  its  length,  was  called  the  country  "of  the  Sidonians";  Josh. 
13;  6;  Judg.  18:  7  (see  page  128);  and  with  the  extreme  southern 
point  of  which  (according  to  Josephus)  Zebulun  ought  to  have 
touched,  or  almost  touched,  if  it  reached  as  far  as  Carmel  and 
the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

[The  failure  of  most  of  the  tribes  to  "drive  out  the  Canaan- 
ites,"  and  in  some  cases  even  to  take  possession  of  the  territory 
assigned  them  by  Joshua  (see  Judg.  chs.  1  and  2),  has  come  to 
render  impossible  an  accurate  delineation  of  the  boundaries  of 
the  several  tribes;  to  which  difficulty  must  be  added  the  fact 
that  after  the  Babylonish  captivity  the  tribal  divisions  disap- 
peared altogether:  so  that  no  two  of  our  Biblical  maps  are 
agreed  as  to  what  they  originally  were.  To  Asher  (see  com- 
ment on  vr.  20)  was  assigned  by  Joshua  the  plain  of  Phenicia,  in- 
cluding "the  great  Sidon."  Josh.  19:  28,  29.  But  it  seems  that 
they  never  attempted  to  take  this  part  of  their  possession:  so 
that  their  territory  proper  lay  in  the  mountains  between  Pheni- 
cia, on  the  west,  and  Naphtali,  on  the  east. — Tr.] 

49:  14,   15.     issACHAB    (fifth  son  of  Leah). 

14  Issachar  is  a  strong  ass, 

Couching  down  between  the  sheepfolds : 

15  And  he  saw  a  resting-place  that  it  was  good, 
And  the  land  that  it  was  pleasant ; 

And  he  bowed  his  shoulder  to  bear, 
And  became  a  servant  under  taskwork. 

Of  Issachar  (as  of  Zebulun,  Napthali,  Asher,  etc.),  we  know 
nothing  personally.  The  territory  of  Issachar  was  between 
Zebulun  on  the  north  and  Manasseh  on  the  south,  and  between 
the  Jordan  on  th&  east  and  the  mountain  range  of  Carmel 
on  the  west;  and  it  was  considered  one  of  the  best  and  most 
fertile  In  Canaan,  to  which  circumstance  is  attributed,  in  part 
their  pacific  and  industrious  character,  more  disposed  to  carry 
burdens  than  to  carry  arms.  It  is  difficult  to  determine  sat- 
isfactorily the  meaning  of  the  last  phrase.  As  the  original 
signifies  to  pay  tribute  as  well  as  to  bear  burdens,  some  have 
supposed  that  Issachar  was  so  devoted  to  labor  and  to  the  arts 
of  peace,  that  he  preferred  to  pay  tribute  rather  than  to  ex- 
pose himself  to  the  toils  and  dangers  of  military  service.  But 
It  does  not  seem  that  the  men  of  Issachar  were  lacking  in 
valor.  Deborah  celebrates  their  readiness  to  take  up  arms, 
and  their  courage  in  battle;  and  they  are  mentioned  with  dis- 
tinction among  those  who  came  up  armed  to  make  David  king. 
Judg.   5:  15;    1   Chron.   12:  32.     Others   suppose   that  the   words 


CHAPTER  49:  16—18  515 

mean,  nothing  more  than   that  they  cheerfully  submitted  them- 
selves to  labor  and  toil  as  arduous  as  that  "of  slaves. 

49:  16,  17.    DAN   (first  son  of  Bilhah,  handmaid  of  Rachel). 

16  Dan  shall  judge  his  people. 
As  one  of  the  tribes  of  Israel. 

17  Dan  shall  be  a  serpent  in  the  way, 
An  adder  in  tlie  path, 

That  biteth  the  horse's  heels. 

So  that  his  rider  falleth  backward. 

The  name  of  Dan  signifies  "Judge,"  "judging,"  or  "judged"  (ch. 
30:  6),  and  to  this  fact  the  blessing  of  his  father  alludes,  in 
saying  "that  Dan  shall  judge  his  peoples  (=the  tribes  of  his 
nation),  as  any  one  of  the  tribes  of  Israel."  M.  S.  V.  Being 
the  son  of  Rachel's  slave  (and  the  first  of  the  four  sons  of 
the  two  maid-servants)  it  might  be  supposed  that  he  would 
occupy  a  position  subordinate  to  the  free-born  sons,  but  the 
words  of  Jacob  indicate  that  he  would  be  in  all  respects  their 
equal.  It  is  supposed  also  that  there  is  here  a  covert  allusion 
to  Sampson,  who  was  of  this  tribe,  and  was  in  some  respects 
the  most  famous  and  popular  of  the  judges  of  Israel.  Judges, 
chapters  13 — 16.  Dan  had  only  one  son  (ch.  47:23);  but  at 
the  time  of  the  exodus  from  Egypt  he  and  his  servants  and 
dependants  (who  were  counted  with  those  of  his  tribe)  num- 
bered 62,600; — the  most  numerous  of  all  the  tribes,  with  the 
exception  of  Judah.  In  the  march  through  the  desert,  the  en- 
campment of  Dan,  which  included  the  tribes  of  Dan,  Asher  and 
Naphtali,  formed  the  rearguard  of  the  encampment  of  Israel, 
and  was  the  strongest  of  the  four  divisions,  with  the  exception 
of  that  of  Judah,  which  formed  the  vanguard.  As  Dan  was 
the  most  numerous  of  all  the  tribes,  except  Judah,  we  do  not 
understand  why  he  should  be  compared  to  "a  serpent  in  the 
way,  and  an  adder  in  the  path";  since  cunning  and  craft  are 
the  ordinary  recourse  of  the  weak.  Some  believe  that  allu- 
sion is  here  made  to  the  incident  of  the  expedition  of  the  600 
Danites,  who  conquered  for  themselves  a  possessi^vn  between 
Sidon  and  Damascus  (Judg.  18:7,  28,  29);  whicn  came  to 
be  the  extreme  northern  limit  of  Israel  (Judg.  20:  1;  1  Sam. 
3:  20) ;  the  phrase  "from  Dan  to  Beersheba"  representing  the  ex- 
treme dimensions  of  the  country  from  north  to  south. 

49:  18.       JACOB'S     sigh. 

18  I  have  waited  for  thy  salvation,  O  Jehovah. 

In  the  midst  of  these  figures  and -emblems  of  wars,  acts  of 
treachery  and  human  strife,  the  patriarch  stopped  a  moment  to 


516  GENESIS 

heave  a  sigh,  sorrowful  and  prolonged,  for  the  salvation  of 
God.  I  believe  that  this  cannot  have  more  than  one  meaning; 
to  wit,  that  Jacob  in  common  with  the  pious  servants  of  God 
before  Christ,  just  the  same  as  after  Christ,  longed,  and  under 
circumstances  of  distress  and  in  times  of  public  and  private 
calamity,  longed  with  vehemence,  for  the  promised  salvation, 
which  Christ  with  his  blood  has  brought  for  us;  which  the 
people  of  God  still  wait  for,  and  will  have  to  continue  waiting 
for  {in  heaven  no  less  than  on  earth),  until  Christ  shall  come 
in  power  and  glory  to  bring  us  the  promised  "salvation,"  and 
to  give  us  "the  kingdom."  The  sighed-for  "REST  yet  remaineth 
for  the  people  of  Ood."  Heb.  4:9;  9:  28;  Matt.  25:  34;  1  Thes. 
1:  10;  2  Thes.  1:  7—10;  Rom.  8:  23;  Rev.  11:  18,  and  22:  12. 
Thus  David: 

"Oh  that  the  salvation  of  Israel  were  come  out  of  Zion! 
when  God  bringeth  back  the  captivity  of  his  people, 
Jacob  shall  rejoice,  and  Israel  shall  be  glad."     Ps.  53:  6. 

So  Moses: 

"Return,  oh  Jehovah;  how  long? 

and  let  it  repent  thee  concerning  thy  servants!  (or,  "be 
sorry  for  thy  servants!"     M.  S.  V.) 

Oh  satisfy  us  early  with  thy  mercy, 

that  we  may  rejoice  and  be  glad  all  our  days! 

Make  us  glad  according  to  the  days  wherein  thou  hast  af- 
flicted us, 

and  the  years  wherein  we  have  seen  evil!"    Ps.  90:  13 — 16. 

So  Zacharias,  at  the  circumcision  of  his  son,  the  precursor 
of  the  Messiah,  when  "his  mouth  was  opened  and  his  tongue  was 
loosed": 

"Blessed  be  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel; 

for  he  hath  visited  and  wrought  redemption  for  his  people, 

and  hath  raised  up  a  horn  of  salvation  for  us 

in  the  house  of  his  servant  David 

(as  he  spake  by  the  mouth  of  his  holy  prophets  which  have 

been  since  the  world  began) ; 
salvation  from  our  enemies,  and  from  the  hand  of  all  that 

hate  us; 
to  show  mercy  towards  our  fathers, 
and  to  remember  his  holy  covenant; 
the  oath  which  he  sware  to  Abraham  our  father, 
to  grant  unto  us  that  we,  being  delivered  out  of  the  hand 

of  our  enemies. 


CHAPTER  49:  19,  20  517 

should  serve  him  without  fear, 

in   holiness   and   righteousness   before   him   all   our   days." 

Luke  1:  66—75. 
So  Paul  also:  "And  not  only  so,  but  ourselves  also,  who 
have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we  ourselves  groan  within 
ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of 
our  body."  Rom.  8:  23.  Paul,  in  heaven,  no  longer  groans,  but 
he  is  still  "waiting" — waiting  "with  Christ,"  while  he  is  "wait- 
ing (=z"expecting")  till  his  enemies  be  made  his  footstool."  Heb. 
10:  13. 

49:  19.    GAD  (first  son  of  Zilpah,  handmaid  of  Leah). 

19  Gad,  a  troop*  shall  press  upon  him ; 
But  he  shall  press  upon  their  heel. 

*Heb.  gedudj  a  marauding  band. 

As  there  was  nothing  special  to  say  of  Gad,  who  acted  no 
considerable  part  among  the  sons,  nor  among  the  tribes,  of 
Israel,  we  have  once  more  a  play  upon  his  name — "Gad,"  which 
had  two  significations:  (1)  "good  fortune,"  and  thus  expressed 
the  joy  of  Leah  at  having  a  son  by  her  servant  Zilpah,  whom 
she  had  given  to  her  husband  as  a  wife,  in  the  ardent  competi- 
tion which  she  had  with  her  sister  Rachel,  in  the  matter  of 
giving  sons  to  Jacob  (ch.  36:  11);  and  (2)  "a  marauding  troop," 
or  guerrilla  band;  in  which  sense  the  word  is  used  here.  Gad 
was  one  of  the  three  tribes  which  had  their  inheritance  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  river  Jordan,  and  consequently  were  the  most 
exposed  to  the  attacks  of  invading  enemies,  and  also  to  the 
guerrillas  and  marauding  bands  of  the  Ammonites,  the  Moabites, 
the  Edomites  and  other  neighboring  enemies.  These  tribes  also 
were  the  first  which  were  deported  by  the  Assyrians  under 
Tiglathpilezer.     1  Chron.  5:  26. 

49:  20.     ASHEB  (second  son  of  Zilpah,  handmaid  of  Leah). 

20  Out  of  Asher  his  bread  shall  be  fat, 
And  he  shall  yield  royal  dainties. 

To  Asher  (=  "Happy")  fell  as  his  inheritance  a  narrow  strip 
of  land,  fifty  miles  long,  interposed  between  Phenicia,  on  the 
west  and  the  tribes  of  Naphtali  and  Zebulun  on  the  east  and 
south.  On  the  north  it  reached  to  "the  great  Sidon,"  and  on  the 
south  "to  Carmel  near  to  the  Great  Sea" — the  Mediterranean 
(Josh.  19:  26,  28),  which  seems  to  be  in  disagreement  with 
what  Josephus  says  about  it.  See  comment  on  vr.  13.  His  ter- 
ritory was  considered  one  of  the  best  in  Israel,  and  corresponded 
with  his  name  =  Happy,  or  Fortunate. 


518  GENESIS 

49:  21.     NAPHTALi   (second  son  of  Bilhah,  handmaid  of  Rachel). 

21  Naphtali  is  a  hind  let  loose : 
He  giveth  goodly  words. 

Neither  of  him  nor  his  tribe  have  we  notice  of  anything  worthy 
of  mention,  except  what  has  been  already  said  in  connection  with 
the  tribe  of  Zebulun.  His  territory,  in  the  division  of  the  land, 
lay  very  far  to  the  north,  bounded  on  the  S.  E.  and  south  by  the 
Sea  of  Cinneroth  (or  Lake  of  Gennesaret)  and  the  north  of  Zebu- 
lun, and  extending  northward  very  far  into  Mount  Lebanon.  His 
lands  were  naturally  very  much  broken,  but  the  scenery  was  of 
the  most  grand  and  beautiful  character,  and  its  valleys  among 
the  most  fertile  of  Israel;  and  like  mountaineers  in  general,  his 
people  were  valiant.  The  "hind  (or  gazelle)  let  loose"  is  a 
beautiful  figure  of  the  free  and  independent  spirit  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  a  picturesque  country  of  mountains  and  valleys;  and  in 
fact,  as  we  have  already  said,  the  people  of  Naphtali  go  always 
associated  with  Zebulun,  as  being  among  the  most  courageous  of 
the  warriors  of  Israel.  In  the  war  against  Jabin  king  of  Canaan, 
and  particularly  in  the  battle  of  Mount  Tabor,  Barak  (who  was 
of  Kadesh-Naphtali),  the  assistant  and  lieutenant-general  of  the 
prophetess  Deborah,  made  forever  famous  the  name  of  his  tribe 
by  the  part  which  he  took  in  that  memorable  battle.  Judg.  chs. 
4  and  5.  Of  the  "goodly  words,"  for  which  he  was  to  be  famous, 
we  know  nothing;  although  a  land  of  beautiful  valleys  and  pic- 
turesque mountains,  and  which  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  majestic 
Lebanon,  might  well  have  awakened  the  muse  of  more  than  one 
poet,  famous  in  his  day. 

49:  22—26.    Joseph   (first  son  of  Rachel). 

22  Joseph  is  a  fruitful  bough, 

A  fruitful  bough  by  a  fountain ; 
His  branches  run  over  the  wall. 

23  The  archers  have  sorely  grieved   him, 
And  shot  at  him,  and  persecuted  him : 

24  But  his  bow  abode  in  strength, 

And  the  arms  of  his  hands  were  made  strong, 

Bv  the  hands  of  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob 

(From  thence  is  the  shepherd,  the  stone  of  Israel), 

25  Even  bv  the  God  of  thy  father,  who  shall  help  thee, 
And  by  the  Almighty,  who  shall  bless  thee, 

With  blessings  of  heaven  above, 

Blessings  of  the  deep  that  coucheth  beneath. 

Blessings  of  the  breasts,  and  of  the  womb. 

26  The  blessings  of  thy  father 

Have  prevailed  above  the  blessings  of  my  progenitors 
Unto  the  utmost  bound  of  the  everlasting  hills: 
They  shall  be  on  the  head  of  Joseph, 

And  on  the  crown  of  the  head  of  him  that  was  separate  from* 
his  brethren. 
*0r,  that  is  prince  among.  [M.  8.  V.,  the  Nazarite  among.] 


CHAPTER  49:  27  519 

On  reaching  the  name  of  his  beloved  Joseph,  the  handsome 
son  of  his  beautiful  and  proper  wife,  it  seems  that  Jacob  laid 
aside  the  office  of  prophet,  which  we  see  conspicuous  in  the 
blessing  of  Judah,  and  gave  loose  rein  to  his  poetic  muse,  and 
to  the  warm  and  out-gushing  affections  of  his  heart.  There  is 
here  nothing  to  explain,  nor  indeed  to  comment  upon,  except, 
First,  the  words  "shepherd  and  stone  of  Israel";  which  some 
translate  "by  the  name  of  the  shepherd,"  etc.;  and  others  sup- 
pose they  see  in  them  an  allusion  to  that  "Jacob's  Stone"  which 
figures  in  so  many  fabulous  stories  of  different  nations; —  ex- 
travagances which  it  is  not  worth  our  while  to  relate  here.  See 
the  comment  on  ch.  28:  18 — 22.  In  a  Christian  sense,  both  "shep- 
herd" and  "stone"  have  their  highest  fulfilment  in  Jesus  Christ. 
See  John  10:  11;  1  Pet.  5:  4,  with  Matt.  22:  42;  Eph.  2:  20;  1 
Pet.  2:  6.  And  in  the  usage  of  the  Old  Testament,  it  is  Jehovah 
himself,  under  the  aspect  of  the  Redeemer  of  his  people,  who  is 
the  Shepherd  and  the  Stone.  See  ch.  48:  15,  16;  Ps.  23:  1;  80: 
1,  with  Ps.  118:  22;  Isa.  28:  16.  And  Second,  the  words  "him 
that  was  separate  from  his  brethren"  (ile&.  the  nazarite  of  his 
brethren),  in  vr.  26.  His  personal  character  from  a  child  and  his 
subsequent  elevation  as  viceroy  of  Egypt,  separated  him  from 
them,  placing  him  in  a  far  higher  plane.  The  word  "nazarite" 
signifies  separated,  consecrated  to  God;  for  which  reason  the  word 
separated  (in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version)  is  supplied  in 
italics,  in  order  to  make  plain  the  meaning  of  Nazarite:  "The 
Nazarite,  separated  from  among  his  brethren."  Among  the 
Israelites,  "nazarite"  was  always  a  noble  title.  Lam.  4:7; 
Amos.  2:  11,  12.  In  this  outpouring  of  his  heart,  Jacob  alludes 
beautifully  to  the  cruel  persecutions  which  Joseph  had  suffered 
on  the  part  of  his  elder  brothers,  to  the  help  of  God  which 
had  never  forsaken  him,  and  to  the  honors  and  glories  which  ex- 
alted and  adorned  his  days  of  prosperity. 

49:  27.     BENJAMIN    (second  son  of  Rachel). 

27     Benjamin  is  a  wolf  that  raveneth : 

In  the  morning  he  shall  devour  the  prey, 
And  at  even  he  shall  divide  the  spoil. 

Benjamin  (z=Son  of  the  right  hand) — a  name  which  his 
father  gave  him  instead  of  Benoni  (=Son  of  my  sorrow),  which 
his  mother  gave  him  when  she  died,  in  the  act  of  giving  him  birth 
— must  have  been  a  great  favorite  with  his  father  to  merit  such  a 
name;  for  his  birth  caused  him  as  bitter  pangs  as  to  the  mother, 
and  forty  years  longer.  See  comments  on  ch.  48:  7.  Of  his  char- 
acter and  personal   deeds  we  know  nothing;    for   every  notice 


520  GENESIS 

that  we  have  of  him  shows  him  in  a  passive  rather  than  in  an 
active  form.  On  going  down  into  Egypt  he  had  more  sons 
than  any  of  his  brothers  (ch.  46:  21),  giving  promise  thereby 
that  his  tribe  would  be  the  most  numerous  of  them  all;  but 
it  did  not  so  happen;  although  it  is  important  for  us  to  remem- 
ber that  not  the  largest  number  of  sons  but  of  servants  was  the 
important  consideration  in  determining  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion in  the  different  tribes  in  Egypt.  Dan  went  down  with  only 
one  son,  and  he  came  up  with  62,700,  capable  of  bearing  arms; 
Benjamin  seemingly  entered  with  ten  sons  (unless  part  of  them 
were  born  later),  and  he  went  up  with  35,400.  Ch.  46:  23  and 
21;  Num.  1:  38  and  36.  In  the  sad  days  of  oppression  and 
hard  bondage  which  befell  the  people  in  Egypt,  masters  and 
servants  (who  were  all  circumcised  Israelites,  ch.  17:  12,  13) 
were  confounded  together,  being  all  alike  the  slaves  of  Pharaoh. 
Jacob  and  his  sons  went  down  into  Egypt  with  an  immense 
multitude  of  servants;  but  we  are  not  told  how  many  servants 
or  slaves  (see  Ex.  21:  21,  26,  27)  they  brought  up  from  thence: 
all  of  them,  including  Moses  and  Aaron,  were  slaves  there.  Ex. 
5:  4. 

The  words  of  the  prophecy  give  us  to  understand  that  Ben- 
jamin, or  rather,  the  tribe  descended  from  him,  would  be 
warlike  and  even  cruel  in  his  instincts  and  character;  and  in 
fact  his  zeal  in  defending  those  "sons  of  Belial,"  in  Gibeah, 
who  made  themselves  as  base  as  the  sinners  of  Sodom  (Judg. 
20:  12 — 14),  and  his  daring  and  valor  in  maintaining  their 
defence  against  the  united  strength  of  all  Israel,  accredit  at  the 
same  time  his  valor,  his  lack  of  good  morals,  and  his  want 
of  sound  sense;  for  such  a  heroic  defence  of  those  villains 
resulted  in  the  almost  complete  destruction  of  their  tribe.  Judg. 
21:  16,  17.  In  all  this  he  manifested  the  characteristics  of 
the  wolf  rather  than  the  lion.  Of  this  tribe  also  was  Saul, 
the  first  king  of  Israel;  and  the  tenacious  purpose  of  the  Ben- 
jamites,  in  a  seven  years'  struggle,  to  oppose  David  and  main- 
tain the  cause  of  "the  house  of  Saul,"  shows  in  a  strong  light 
the  same  indications  of  a  valor  that  was  not  tempered  with 
discretion.     2  Sam.  2:8;  3:  1;  16:  3,  5—11;   20:  1. 

49:28—33.    the  death  of  jacob.     (1689  b.  c.) 

28  All  these  are  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel :  and  this  is  it  that 
their  father  spake  unto  them  and  blessed  them :  every  one  according 
to  his  blessing  he  blessed  them. 

29  And  he  charged  them,  and  said  unto  them,  I  am  to  be  gathered 
unto  my  people :  bnry  me  with  my  fathers  in  the  cave  that  is  in  the 
field  of  Ephron  the  Hittite, 

30  in  the  cave  that  is  in  the  field  of  Machpelah,  which  is  before 


CHAPTER  49:  28—33  521 

Mamre,  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  Abraham  bought  with  the  Geld 
from  Ephron  the  Hittite  for  a  possession  of  a  burying-place. 

31  There  they  buried  Abraham  and  Sarah  his  wife;  there  they 
buried  Isaac  and  Itebckah  his  wife  :  and  there  I  buried  Leah — 

32  the  field  and  tlie  cave  that  is  therein,  which  was  purchased 
from  the  children  of  Heth. 

33  And  when  Jacob  made  an  end  of  charging  his  sons,  he  gathered 
up  his  feet  into  the  bed,  and  yielded  up  the  ghost,  and  was  gathered 
unto  his  people. 

Only  in  the  sense  of  last  prophetic  words  can  we  call  this 
"the  blessing  with  which  their  father  blessed  them";  for  Reu- 
ben, Simeon  and  Levi  received  from  him  no  blessing  at  all, 
but  rather  the  opposite.  All  the  circumstances  of  the  death 
of  Jacob  were  notable.  He  had  been  for  a  considerable  time 
weak  and  infirm;  but  this  poem,  his  last  prophetic  words,  re- 
veals intellectual  gifts  of  a  high  order,  and  a  force  and  vigor 
very  rarely  seen  in  a  dying  old  man.  After  pronouncing  these 
words  with  supernatural  vigor,  which  God  doubtless  imparted 
to  him,  he  made  the  necessary  arrangements  for  his  own  burial, 
having  already  arranged  with  Joseph  the  most  important  part. 
Ch.  47:  29 — 41.  This  ended,  he  gathered  up  his  feet  into  his 
bed,  and  with  the  cessation  of  the  prophetic  afflatus,  which  had 
invigorated  him  for  this  supreme  effort,  it  seems  as  if  In  the 
act,  he  breathed  out  his  last  breath  and  "was  gathered  to  his 
people"  (Heb.  peoples).  We  have  already  treated  of  the  signi- 
fication of  this  phrase  in  the  comment  on  ch.  25:  8,  and  35:  29. 
It  is  certain  that  it  cannot  refer  to  his  burial;  for  all  that 
happened  in  one  and  the  same  day,  whereas  he  was  not  buried 
for  nearly  three  months  after.     Ch.  50:  3 — 10. 

It  Is  very  evident  that  this  expectation  of  being  "gathered  to 
his  people,"  "to  his  peoples,"  or  "to  his  fathers,"  came  to  mitigate 
not  a  little  the  natural  horror  of  death,  in  those  times.  One's 
going  to  his  fathers,  or  to  his  peoples,  would  be  to  a  dying  man 
like  returning  to  the  bosom  of  the  separated  family.  It  lacked 
very  much  of  the  Christian  hope,  and  in  its  popular  use  it  was 
but  natural  that  no  discrimination  was  made  between  good  and 
bad  men  (pp.  298,  299);  but  in  any  case  it  was  something;  and 
it  clearly  manifests  the  universal  belief  in  those  days  in  an 
existence  after  death:  [ — "a  hereafter";  as  is  so  forcibly  ex- 
pressed even  in  the  words  of  the  false  prophet  Balaam: 

"Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous, 

and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his."    Num.  23:  10. 

"Last  end"  is  the  rather  unfortunate  translation  of  a  Hebrew 
word  which  means  literally  the  hereafter:  "let  my  hereafteb 
BE  LIKE  HIS";  as  read  in  the  Modern  Spanish  Version. — Tr.] 


522  GENESIS 

The  last  days  of  this  venerable  patriarch  were  seemingly 
his  best  days  and  the  most  tranquil,  near  to  his  beloved  Joseph. 
Not  only  so,  but  we  see  the  work  of  his  conversion  and  sanc- 
tification  carried  to  its  culminating  point,  as  we  do  not  see 
it  in  the  life  and  character  of  any  other  Biblical  character. 
As  before  said,  and  it  bears  repetition,  I  find  a  great  comfort  in 
the  phrase  so  often  used  in  the  Bible:  "the  God  of  Abraham, 
and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob."  Abraham  was 
by  nature  and  by  his  personal  habits  "a  gentleman"  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  word;  one  of  "nature's  noblemen."  And  in 
whatever  modern  society  he  might  have  been  placed,  he  would 
have  passed  for  a  perfect  gentleman;  and  by  divine  grace 
Abraham  was  the  most  noble  type  of  a  believing  man, — "the 
father  of  believers."  Gal.  3:9,  29  and  Rom.  4:  16—18.  But 
who  and  how  many  of  us  can  either  by  nature  or  by  grace 
aspire  to  the  character  and  condition  of  an  Abraham?  Isaac 
was  a  weak,  pacific,  inoffensive  man,  indolent,  and  apparently 
too  fond  of  good  living  (ch.  25:  28;  27:  4,  and  comments);  and 
who  passed  apparently  the  last  45  years  of  his  long  life  in 
darkness  and  silence.  Divine  grace  without  doubt  wrought  very 
effectually  in  him  for  the  perfecting  of  his  weak  character,  in 
those  long  years  of  sad  silence.  It  is  a  very  great  comfort  for 
the  many  Isaacs  that  there  are  in  the  family  of  God,  lacking 
in  fibre  and  resolution,  vacillating  and  of  a  weak  character; — it 
Is  for  all  such  a  great  comfort  that  Jehovah,  the  only  true  God, 
is  not  merely  the  God  of  the  princely  Abraham,  but  the  God 
of  the  weak  Isaac  also.  Jacob  was  undoubtedly  the  least 
amiable  of  all  the  good  men  whom  Scripture  presents  to  our 
view.  His  disposition  and  natural  character  always  suffer 
when  he  is  contrasted  with  the  generous,  dashing  and  valiant 
Esau.  And  on  the  religious  side,  I  do  not  believe  that  he  com- 
menced to  know  himself,  and  to  seek  the  favor  and  protection 
of  the  God  of  Abraham  and  of  Isaac,  until  he  had  to  flee  and 
put  himself  in  safety  from  the  sword  of  the  brother  whom  he 
had  twice  offended  almost  unpardonably.  Very  slow  was  the 
work  of  grace  in  his  heart  and  life;  but  the  work  was  genuine 
and  enduring,  and  at  last  the  displeasing,  crafty  and  querulous 
Jacob  came  to  walk  with  holy  calm  in  the  light  of  God,  and 
to  depart  this  life  in  the  full  assurance  of  faith; — in  the  triumphs 
of  a  faith  fully  assured  that  all  that  God  had  promised  he 
was  able  also  and  faithful  to  perform.  It  is  probable  that,  in 
p.ll  three,  the  work  of  divine  grace  wrought  in  accordance  with 
the  disposition  and  individual  character  of  each.     Yes,  it  is  to 


CHAPTER  50:  1—6  523 

me  an  unspeakable  comfort  that  Jehovah  is  "the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob!" 

CHAPTER  L. 

VRS.   1 — 6.      PREPARATIONS   FOR  THE  BURIAL  OF  JACOB.       (1689   B.   C.) 

1  And  Joseph  fell  upon  his  father's  face,  and  wept  upon  him,  and 
kissed  him. 

2  And  Joseph  commanded  his  servants  the  physicians  to  embalm 
his  fatluM- :  and  the  physicians  embalmed  Israel. 

3  And  forty  days  were  fulfilled  for  him;  for  so  are  fulfilled  the 
days  of  embalming ;  and  the  Egyptians  wept  for  him  three-score  and 
ton  days. 

4  And  when  the  days  of  weeping  for  him  were  past,  Joseph  spake 
unto  the  house  of  Pharaoh,  saying.  If  now  I  have  found  favor  in  your 
eyes,  speak,  I  pray  you,  in  the  ears  of  Pharaoh,  saying, 

.5  My  father  made  me  swear,  saying,  Lo,  I  die:  in  my  grave  wliich 
I  have  digged  for  me  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  there  shalt  thou  bury  me. 
Now  therefore  let  me  go  up,  I  pray  thee,  and  bury  my  father,  and  I 
will  come  again. 

6  And  Pharaoh  said.  Go  up,  and  bury  thy  father,  according  as  Le 
made  thee  swear. 

Very  touching  are  the  brief  and  sorrowful  terms  that  relate 
to  us  the  grief  of  Joseph  for  the  death  of  his  aged  father; 
and  we  may  be  sure  that  these  manifestations  of  his  affection 
were  very  deep  and  sincere: — "he  fell  upon  the  face  of  hia 
father,  and  wept  over  him,  and  kissed  him."  The  rest  was 
pure  ceremony;  the  forty  days  of  embalming  formed  a  portion 
of  the  seventy  days  of  mourning,  on  the  part  of  ofBcial  mourners, 
paid  or  appointed  for  the  office.  Eccl.  12:  5;  Jer.  9:  17,  18; 
Mark  5:  38.  As  Joseph  was  an  Egyptian  prince,  the  mourning 
for  his  father  would  be  carried  out  in  Egyptian  style;  and  we 
are  told  that  in  this  official  ceremony,  the  mourners  were 
Egyptians.  Vr.  3.  It  is  not  conceivable  that  Joseph  would 
desist  from  the  performance  of  his  public  duties  for  the  space 
of  seventy  days;  but  while  the  official  mourning  lasted,  Joseph 
could  not  present  himself  at  the  court  of  Pharaoh;  so  that 
when  everything  was  ready  for  the  burial,  he  bade  some  of 
the  house  or  family  of  Pharaoh  speak  for  him,  asking  Pharaoh's 
permission  that  he  should  leave  the  country,  in  fulfilment  of 
the  will  of  his  father,  and  of  the  oath  which  he  had  required 
of  him,  to  bury  him  in  the  land  of  Canaan;  a  permission  that 
Pharaoh  granted  at  once.  It  seems  that  thirty  days  was  the 
time  of  official  mourning  among  the  Hebrews,  for  persons  of 
high  rank.  Thus  was  done  the  mourning  for  Aaron  and  for 
Moses.  Num.  20:  29;  Dent.  34:  8.  The  time  was  more  than 
twice  this  among  the  Egyptians.     It  seems  that  there  was  no 


524  GENESIS 

official  mourning  for  the  death  of  Miriam,  the  sister  of  Moses. 
Num.  20:  1. 

50:  7 — 14.      THE  BURIAL  OF  JACOB.       (1689   B.   C.) 

7  And  Joseph  went  up  to  bury  his  father ;  and  with  him  went  up 
all  the  servants  of  Pharaoh,  the  elders  of  his  house,  and  all  the  elders 
of  the  land  of  Egypt, 

8  and  all  the  house  of  Joseph,  and  his  brethren,  and  his  father's 
house :  only  their  little  ones,*  and  their  flocks,  and  their  herds,  they 
left  in  the  land  of  Goshen. 

9  And  there  went  up  with  him  both  chariots  and  horsemen :  and  it 
was  a  very  great  company. 

10  And  they  came  to  the  threshing-floor  of  Atad,  which  is  beyond 
the  Jordan,  and  there  they  lamented  with  a  very  great  and  sore  lam- 
entation :   and   he   made  a   mourning  for  his  father  seven   days. 

11  And  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  the  Canaanites,  saw  tJie 
mourning  in  the  floor  of  Atad,  they  said.  This  is  a  grievous  mourning 
to  the  Egyptians  :  wherefore  the  name  of  it  was  called  Abel-mizraim,t 
which  is  beyond  the  Jordan. 

12  And  his  sons  did  unto  him  according  as  he  commanded  them  : 

13  for  his  sons  carried  him  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  buried 
him  in  the  cave  of  the  field  of  Machpelah,  which  Abraham  bought  with 
the  field,  for  a  possession  of  a  burying-place,  of  Ephron  the  Hittite, 
before  Mamre. 

14  And  Joseph  returned  into  Egypt,  he,  and  his  brethren,  and  all 
that  went  up  with  him  to  bury  his  father,  after  he  had  buried  hia 
father. 

[*M.    S.    v.,    their    families.]  [t=Mourning    of    the    Egyptians.] 

This  narrative  of  the  burial  of  Jacob  is  interesting;  and  it 
reveals  to  us  the  high  esteem  in  which  Joseph  was  held  by 
the  family  (or  house)  of  Pharaoh.  A  numerous  cortege,  com- 
posed of  all  the  men  of  the  house  of  Jacob,  with  the  most 
distinguished  individuals  of  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  his  princes 
and  the  elders  of  his  house,  and  all  the  elders  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  accompanied  the  body  to  the  threshing  floor  of  Atad;  — 
a  very  great  cortege,  with  chariots  and  horsemen.  "The  elders 
of  Egypt"  and  "the  elders  of  the  house  of  Pharaoh,"  of  course 
were  not  men  of  advanced  age,  but  the  words  ought  to  be 
understood  here,  just  as  in  all  the  Bible,  as  an  official  title 
of  those  who  governed  and  exercised  authority  in  the  palace 
of  Pharaoh  and  in  the  land  of  Egypt.  See  Note  22,  on  "the 
Elder,"  ch.  24:  2.  These  with  all  his  princes  were  "the  ser- 
vants of  Pharaoh,"  of  whom  we  read  in  vr.  7,  and  in  all  this 
history. 

We  do  not  know  just  where  the  "threshing  floor  of  Atad" 
was  located;  for  the  phrase  "beyond  Jordan,"  or  "the  Jordan" 
means  only  that  it  was  in  the  land  of  Canaan;  as  the  same 
phrase  ordinarily  signifies  in  the  Boohs  of  Moses:  "beyond," 
or  "on  the  other  side"  from  where  Moses  concluded  his  loritinci. 
and  where  he  died  and  was  buried.     The  phrase  does  not  imply 


CHAPTER  50:  15—21  525 

that  they  went  around  the  Salt  or  Dead  Sea,  in  order  to  cross 
the  Jordan  and  enter  Canaan  on  the  eastern  side.  They  en- 
tered from  the  south  undoubtedly,  and  by  the  same  way  they 
went  out;  and  it  is  very  doubtful,  to  say  the  least,  whether 
they  went  anywhere  near  the  river  or  valley  of  Jordan,  where 
some  would  locate  it.  "Atad"  was  probably  the  name  of  the 
owner  of  the  threshing-floor,  or  of  the  individual  from  whom 
it  took  name;  just  as  in  the  case  of  "the  oaks  of  Mamre."  The 
land  was  doubtless  very  abundant  in  wheat,  and  would  give 
ready  subsistence  and  pasturage  to  the  immense  cortege  and 
their  beasts,  during  the  seven  days  of  mourning,  and  probably 
it  was  near  to  Hebron,  or  Mamre,  where,  in  the  cave  of  Mach- 
pelah,  the  body  was  deposited.  The  valley  of  the  Jordan,  near 
to  Jericho,  where  many  (following  the  opinion  of  Jerome), 
would  desire  to  situate  it,  being  from  1200  to  1300  ft.  below 
the  level  of  the  ocean,  would  not  be  a  suitable  climate  for 
wheat,  nor  a  location  for  "threshing  floors";  besides,  that  did 
not  lie  in  the  way  from  Egypt  to  Hebron.  From  the  extra- 
ordinary mourning  which  they  performed  there  for  seven  days, 
in  addition  to  the  seventy  days  of  mourning  done  in  Egypt, 
the  Canaanites  took  occasion  to  call  that  locality  "Abel-mizraim" 
="Mourning  of  the  Egyptians."  We  have  occasion  to  congratu- 
late ourselves  that  the  good  sense  of  modern  times  has  abolished 
these  mournings  of  ceremony,  which  answered  no  other  pur- 
pose than  to  maintain  that  servile  and  almost  idolatrous  respect 
with  which  the  common  people  regarded  the  person  and  the 
authority  of  kings  and  of  the  grandees  who  surrounded  them. 
Abraham  and  Isaac  were  buried  without  any  ceremony  worthy 
of  mention;  but  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  Jacob  had  neces- 
sarily to  be  celebrated  in  Egyptian  style,  with  great  ceremony, 
and  with  the  participation  of  the  most  distinguished  persons  of 
the  court  of  Pharaoh.  Once  these  long  and  tedious  ceremonies 
were  ended,  Joseph  and  his  brethren,  and  all  those  who  had 
accompanied  him  to  the  burial  of  his  father,  returned  again  to 
Egypt. 

50:  15 — 21.      THE  DISTRUST  OF  JOSEPH'S  BROTHEES.       (1689  B.  C.) 

15  And  when  Joseph's  brethren  saw  that  their  father  was  dead, 
they  said,  It  may  be  that  Joseph  will  hate  us,  and  will  fully  requite 
us  all  the  evil  which  we  did  unto  him. 

16  And  they  sent  a  message  unto  Joseph,  saying,  Thy  father  did 
command  before  he  died,  saying, 

17  So  shall  ye  say  unto  Joseph,  Forgive,  I  pray  thee  now,  the 
transgression  of  thy  brethren,  and  their  sin,  for  that  they  did  unto 
thee  evil.  And  now,  we  prav  thee,  forgive  the  transgression  of  the 
servants  of  the  God  of  thy  father.  And  Joseph  wept  when  they 
spake  unto  him. 


526  GENESIS 

18  And  his  brethren  also  went  and  fell  down  before  his  face ;  and 
they  said,  Behold,  we  are  thy  servants. 

19  And  Joseph  said  unto  them,  Fear  not :  for  am  I  in  the  place  of 
God? 

20  And  as  for  you,  ye  meant  evil  against  me;  but  God  meant  it 
for  good,  to  bring  to  pass,  as  it  is  this  day,  to  save  much  people  alive. 

21  Now  therefore  fear  ye  not :  I  will  nourish  you,  and  your  little 
ones.*     And  he  comforted  them,  and  spake  kindly  unto  them. 

[*M.    S.    V.    your   families;    as    in    ch.    47:12.] 

The  official  duties  of  Joseph  and  his  exalted  social  position 
had  prevented  there  being  between  him  and  his  brothers  any- 
thing of  the  familiarity  of  the  days  of  their  youth;  and  seeing 
that  their  father  was  dead,  they  imagined  that  the  great  lord 
(this  obstacle  being  once  removed),  would  take  vengeance  on 
them  for  the  evil  deeds  that  they  had  done  to  him.  As  it  is 
Impossible  for  us  to  believe  that  Jacob  entertained  any  such 
thought  and  took  this  method  of  guarding  against  si^ch  an 
event,  the  message  which  Joseph's  brothers  sent  to  him  wears 
all  the  appearance  of  an  invention  of  their  own,  in  order  to 
work  upon  Joseph's  feelings  of  filial  piety,  and  gain  more 
readily  their  purpose.  They  sent  a  messenger,  therefore,  to  carry 
to  Joseph,  as  the  message  of  his  dying  father,  this  petition  on 
their  behalf.  How  terrible  is  the  power  of  an  accusing  con- 
science, and  how  it  fills  the  bravest  heart  with  dread! 

"Conscience  makes  cowards  of  us  all." 
During  seventeen  years  of  continual  favors  received  from 
Joseph  in  Egypt,  they  still  entertained  a  fear  that  he  was 
going  to  punish  them,  having  them  completely  in  his  power; 
and  that  only  the  presence  of  his  aged  father  was  shielding 
them  from  Joseph's  wrath!  Until  then,  they  had  regarded  him 
as  the  great  lord,  and  not  as  the  loving  and  forgiving  brother! 
Thus  a  corrupted  and  false  Christianity  teaches  that  our  brother 
Jesus,  bearing  still  "in  his  hands  the  print  of  the  nails,"  is 
an  exacting  and  severe  Lord  and  a  rigorous  Judge,  and  that  it 
is  necessary  to  apply  to  Mary  and  to  all  the  court  of  heaven, 
in  order  that,  through  their  intercession  for  us,  he  may  relent, 
and  grant  us  pardon!  See  Ligouri's  Glories  of  Mary,  opening 
at  random,  anywhere.  How  different  is  the  true  Christ  from 
the  disfigured  one  which  Romanism  offers  to  sinners!  Joseph 
wept  while  their  messenger  was  delivering  the  message,  in  com- 
passion for  his  brethren,  and  with  sorrow  that  they  should  en- 
tertain such  feeling  with  regard  to  him:  and  Jesus,  too,  might 
weep  again,  if  tears  could  be  shed  in  heaven,  over  the  travesty 


CHAPTER  50:  22,   23  527 

of  his  dying  love  and  his  rising  power,  which  papal  Christianity 
teaches  in  his  name! 

His  brethren  also  followed  after  their  messenger,  and  fell 
down  before  his  face,  exclaiming:  "Behold,  we  be  thy  servants!" 
Joseph  tranquilized  their  apprehension,  and  bade  them  dismiss 
their  fears,  repeating  what  seventeen  years  before  he  had  told 
them,  with  the  same  object  (ch.  45:  5 — 8),  that  God  had  made 
use  of  their  wicked  action  in  order  to  preserve  the  life  of  much 
people,  and  to  carry  forward  his  own  plans  of  vast  importance. 
Thus  he  consoled  them  with  kind  and  tender  words,  and  assured 
them  of  his  love  and  favor.  Nevertheless  he  was  unwilling  to 
weaken  in  them  the  conviction  of  the  enormity  of  their  sin;  and 
we  do  very  wrong  if,  in  order  to  give  comfort  to  those  who 
suffer  the  consequences  of  their  sins,  we  blot  out  from  their 
minds  the  conviction  of  their  dreadful  guilt  and  of  the  danger 
which  they  have  incurred,  otherwise  than  through  deep  and 
true  repentance,  a  thorough  conversion  from  sin  unto  holiness, 
and  a  living  faith  in  and  following  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  — 
as  Jesus  said  to  the  helpless  cripple  of  thirty-eight  years  stand- 
ing, whom  he  had  healed:  "Behold  thou  art  made  whole;  sin 
no  more,  lest  a  worse  thing  happen  unto  thee!"  John  5:  14. 
Joseph  did  not  thus  do;  and  in  saying:  "Am  I  in  the  place  of 
God?"  he  indicated  that  it  did  not  appertain  to  him,  but  to 
God,  to  judge  and  punish  the  sin  which  they  had  committed. 

50:  22,  23.    Joseph  and  his  descendants. 

22  And  Joseph  dwelt  in  Egypt,  he,  and  his  father's  house :  and 
Joseph  lived  a  hundred  and  ten  years. 

23  And  Joseph  saw  Ephraim's  children  of  the  third  generation  : 
the  children  also  of  Machir  the  son  of  Manasseh  were  born  upon 
Joseph's  knees.* 

[*  =  were  received  as  his  own?  See  ch.  30:3.  A.  V.  and  M.  S.  T., 
were  brought  up  upon  Joseph's  knees.  1 

Joseph  was  30  years  old  when  he  was  presented  before  Pha- 
raoh and  made  Governor  of  Egypt;  and  dying  at  the  age  of  110, 
he  lived  80  years  in  his  high  office.  He  saw  the  children  of 
Ephraim  of  the  third  generation,  and  those  of  Manasseh,  until 
the  second.  From  what  is  said  here,  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
writings  of  Moses,  it  seems  certain  that  Manasseh  had  no  other 
son  but  Machir,  from  whom  were  descended  all  the  families  of 
this  tribe,  on  both  sides  of  the  Jordan.  The  Hebrew  expression 
is  a  very  singular  one  which  in  vr.  23  is  translated  in  the 
English  and  the  Modern  Spanish  Versions,  "loere  brought  up 
upon  Joseph's  knees:"  Heb.  "were  born  upon  Joseph's  knees" 
as  given  in  the  text  of  the  Revised  Version.  When  Rachel  gave 
her   maid-servant  Bilhah  to  Jacob  for  a  wife,   she  said:    "She 


528  GENESIS 

shall  bear  upon  my  knees,  that  I  also  may  have  children  by  her. 
Ch.  30:  3.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Rachel  performed  the 
office  of  mid-wife,  and  still  less  that  Joseph  did  so.  In  both 
cases  the  sense  is  probably  the  same,  and  in  the  case  of  Joseph, 
as  in  that  of  his  mother  Rachel,  the  phrase  very  probably 
means,  that  he  received  them  for  his  own.  And  nevertheless 
we  see  no  reason  why  this  should  be  said  of  the  grandchildren 
of  Manasseh,  and  not  of  those  of  Ephraim  also;  unless  it  be  to 
give  us  to  understand  that  Joseph,  till  the  very  last,  gave  the 
preference  to  Manasseh  (see  ch.  48:  17 — 20),  and  continued 
manifesting  it  in  a  certain  way  towards  his  lineage.  Manasseh 
did  not  lose  the  birthright  (Jos.  17:  1);  and  in  the  division  of 
the  promised  land,  his  tribe  received  two  portions,  or  "lots," 
and  Ephraim  only  one.  Josh.  17:  5,  10.  It  is  probable  therefore 
that  this  singular  expression  has  in  Hebrew  some  proverbial 
sense,  and  signifies  that  Joseph  lived  to  receive  upon  his  knees, 
after  they  were  born,  and  cherish  as  his  own,  all  the  children  of 
Manasseh,  until  the  second  generation;  so  that  the  text  of  the 
A.  V.  and  the  Modern  Spanish  Version  give  the  true  sense; 
whereas  the  literal  rendering,  "were  born  upon  the  knees  of 
Joseph"  gives  a  very  misleading  one;  in  seeming  forgetfulness 
of  the  fact  that  the  very  purpose  of  a  translation  is  to  put  the 
thought  of  the  writer  in  easy  reach  of  the  reader.  Machir,  the 
son  of  Manasseh,  had  several  sons;  but  he,  it  seems,  was  the 
only  son  of  his  father.  The  point  is  somewhat  involved;  but 
Num.  26:  29—34;  27:  1,  and  Josh,  13:  31  make  clear  the  fact 
that  the  two  half  tribes  of  Manasseh,  to  the  east  and  to  the 
west  of  the  Jordan,  both  descended  from  this  Machir. 

50:    24 — 26.     the  death   of  joseph,   and  the   oath  which   he 
eeqtjired  in  eegaed  to  his  body.     (1635  b.  c.) 

24  And  Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  I  die;  but  God  will  surely 
visit  you.  and  bring  you  up  out  of  this  land  unto  the  land  which  he 
sware  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob. 

25  And  Joseph  took  an  oath  of  the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  God 
will  surely  visit  you,  and  ye  shall  carry  up  my  bones  from  hence. 

26  So  Joseph  died,  being  a  hundred  and  ten  years  old:  and  they 
embalmed  him,  and  he  was  put  in  a  coffin  in  Egypt. 

"By  faith  Joseph  when  he  died,  made  mention  of  the  departure 
of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  gave  commandment  concerning  his 
bones."  Heb.  11:  22.  Joseph  did  not  know  when  God  would 
visit  his  people  and  bring  them  up  out  of  Egypt;  but  he  was 
fully  certified  of  the  fact  itself  by  the  promise  of  God,  and  he 
did  not  have  the  least  doubt  of  it;  so  that  he  made  the  children 
of  Israel  to  swear  that  whenever  the  time  arrived,  they  would 


CHAPTER  50:  24—26  529 

carry  up  his  bones  with  them.  He  well  knew  that  the  Egyptians 
would  not  permit  the  mortal  remains  of  the  most  distinguished 
of  their  governors  to  be  carried  out  of  the  country,  as  had  been 
done  with  the  body  of  Jacob;  and  for  this  reason  he  exacted  an 
oath  that  when  they  went  up,  they  would  not  leave  his  bones 
in  Egypt.  When  he  died,  therefore,  his  body  was  embalmed,  to 
preserve  it  from  corruption,  as  had  been  done  with  that  of  his 
father;  but  instead  of  being  buried,  as  was  Jacob,  he  was 
placed  in  a  coffin  in  Egypt  and  kept  in  some  secure  place  for  the 
day  of  the  departure  of  the  people.  That  mummified  body  was 
for  a  century  and  a  half,  or  as  some  understand  it,  for  three 
centuries  and  a  half,  a  dumb  prophecy  of  the  exodus  of  the  peo- 
ple from  Egypt,  a  perpetual  monument  of  the  faith  of  Joseph, 
and  a  constant  awakener  of  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  people, 
"strangers  in  a  strange  land,"  speaking  by  dumb  but  eloquent 
signs  of  the  promise  given  to  Abraham  that  "in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury (=:after  "four  hundred  years")  they  should  return  there." 
Ch.  15:  13,  16.  In  this  way  he,  like  another  Abel,  "by  it,  being 
dead,  was  yet  speaking,"    Heb.  11:  4. 


Here  ends  this  noble  book,  the  most  ancient  in  the  world,  and 
in  every  sense  the  most  important,  with  the  exception  of  the 
four  Gospels,  which  recount  the  life,  the  teachings,  the  redeem- 
ing death,  and  the  life-giving  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ.  It 
gives  us  brief,  but  sufficient  and  trustworthy  information,  of 
the  work  of  creation  in  general,  and  the  work  of  the  creation  of 
man  in  particular;  of  his  fall,  from  whence  come  all  our  sins 
and  miseries,  and  the  total  corruption  of  our  nature,  which  in 
all  ages,  and  in  all  countries,  and  under  the  most  varied  condi- 
tions, shows  itself  to  be  one  and  the  same  corrupt  thing;  of  the 
deluge  of  waters  in  the  days  of  Noah,  on  account  of  the  insup- 
portable wickedness  of  men;  of  the  dissemination  of  the  nations 
after  the  flood;  of  the  tower  of  Babylon  and  the  confusion  of 
tongues;  of  the  incorrigible  wickedness  and  pride  of  men,  and 
the  failure  of  all  endeavors  made  to  bring  them  back  to  God; 
of  the  consequent  calling  of  Abraham  and  his  descendants,  and 
the  abandonment  of  the  other  nations,  that  they  "should  walk 
in  their  own  ways"  and  "according  to  the  lusts  of  their  own 
hearts."  (Acts  14:  16;  17:  30,  31;  Rom.  1:  24,  26) ;  of  the  various 
steps  by  which  God  tried  and  disciplined  this  family  which  he 
had   chosen,   until   he  carried   them   down   to   Egypt,   that  they 


530  GENESIS 

might  there  be  educated  and  become  proficient  in  the  arts, 
sciences,  trades  and  industries  of  the  most  advanced  civilization 
of  that  day,  and  might  there  increase  into  a  nation,  capable  of 
taking  possession  of  the  land  which  he  had  given  to  their  fathers; 
and  there  v^e  leave  them  at  the  close  of  the  Book  of  Genesis;  — 
a  word  which  means  to  say  "The  Beginning"; — the  beginning  of 
all  things,  including  the  beginnings  of  the  Christian  Redemption; 
having  laid  securely  the  foundation  for  the  history  of  Israel, 
and  of  the  Church  of  God  in  this  world  apostate  from  its  Maker. 

End  of  the  Genesis. 


COMMENDATIONS 


SOME  COMMENDATIONS  OF  THE  SPANISH  WORK 

La  Luz  (Baptist)  Mexico  City :  "Our  brotlier,  the  Rev.  n.  B.  Pratt,  has 
rendered  a  valuable  service  to  the  cause  of  the  education  of  our  minis- 
ters, and  of  our  young  people,  in  the  publication  of  his  new  work,  Studies 
on  Holy  Scripture — the  Book  of  Genesis.  Mr.  Pratt  deserves  the  thanks 
of  the  whole  Spanish-speaking  world  for  this  interesting  work."  Rev. 
W.   II.  Sloan,  Editor. 

El  Abogado  Cristiano  (Methodist),  Mexico  City:  "There  is  nothing  in 
this  language  that  can  at  all  compare  with  this  work  of  Mr.  Pratt.  The 
style  of  the  author  is  clear,  and  most  of  the  comments  are  entirely 
original  and  interesting." 

El  Evangclista  Mcxicano  (M.  E.  Church,  South),  Mexico  City:  "The 
style  is  clear,  and  the  conceptions  of  truth  elevated  and  original.  As 
one  enters  deeper  into  the  work,  his  interest  steadily  increases,  finding 
the  reading  delightful  and  instructive." 

El  Faro  (Presbyterian),  Mexico  City:  "The  book  once  in  hand,  is  certain 
to  be  read ;  for  it  is  a  book  one  cannot  let  go  of.  Instead  of  being  a  com- 
mentary on  Genesis,  it  is  rather  an  interpretation  of  the  whole  Bible. 
If  we  had  a  dozen  commentaries  on  Genesis  in  Spanish,  this  work  of 
yours  would  still  find  ready  acceptance.  I  have  not  found  one  dull  page 
in  it.  The  author  transforms  the  patriarchs  of  ancient  times  into  men 
and  women  who  walk  and  speak  before  our  eyes.  It  is  the  best  Com- 
mentary on  Genesis  that  I  have  in  my  library."     Rev.  C.  Scott  Williams. 

La  Rcvista  Cristiana  (German  Evangelical),  Madrid,  Spain:  "We  ought 
to  rejoice  that  the  First  Evangelical  Commentary  on  the  Old  Testament 
that  we  have  in  Spanish,  rises  to  the  level  of  the  best  of  those  of  foreign 
lands." 

El  Cristiano  (Presbyterian),  Madrid:  "With  this  exception  [some  de- 
fects of  style,  to  be  expected  of  one  not  born  to  the  use  of  Spanish],  we 
make  our  own  the  commendations  published  at  the  end  of  the  volume, 
and  encourage  the  author  to  go  on  with  the  work." 

El  Estandarte  Evangclico  (Methodist),  Buenos  Ayres,  S.  A. :  "This  most 
precious  volume  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold !  It  is  like  the  sun  shining  In 
the  firmament,  which  illumines  the  intellect,  leading  on  to  the  clear  and 
perfect  understanding  of  what  might  be  otherwise  obscure  and  incom- 
prehensible. May  it  please  God  to  preserve  the  life  of  his  servant,  so  as 
to  complete  the  great  work  he  has  begun,  and  enrich  our  Christian  liter- 
ature with  the  completed  Studies  on  the  whole  Old  Testament!"  Juan 
Robles,   Spanish   editor. 

Rev.  A.  M.  Milne,  General  Agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society  for 
Argentina  and  the  Pacific  Coast  (Methodist),  Buenos  Ayres,  S.  A.:  "The 
Commentary  on  Genesis  is  so  admirable  that  without  doubt  the  publi- 
cation of  it,  no  less,  than  the  Modern  Version  itself  [on  which  it  Is 
founded],  will  in  the  generations  to  come  be  looked  back  to  as  a  landmark 
In  the  history  of  Spanish  Evangelization." 

The  Rev.  Prebendary  L.  B.  White,  D.D.,  Secretary  of  the  Religious 
Tract  Society,  London :  "I  have  read  the  specimen  which  you  sent  me 
[sample  pamphlet  of  108  pages],  and  have  done  so  with  the  greatest 
interest ;  and  feel  that  the  work  has  been  most  carefully  done,  and  that 
it  contains  teaching  which  is  likely  to  be  most  helpful  to  the  students  of 
Scripture,  and  calculated  to  throw  great  light  on  the  first  book  of  the  Bible." 

Rev.  P.  A.  Rodriguez  (Episcopalian),  Tullahoma,  Tenn.  :  "Your  com- 
mentary on  the  Book  of  Genesis  is  very  fine  indeed." 

Prof.   D.   S.  Martin,  Ruling  Elder  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church, 


GENESIS 

New  York :  "I  want  to  thauk  you,  over  and  over,  for  your  delightful  book. 
I  had  it  with  me  in  ,  and  read  it  constantly,  and  ever  with  enthus- 
iasm and  profit.  If  I  was  weary  and  worried,  and  could  not  get  my  mind 
settled,  I  would  take  it  up,  and  soon  lose  my  petty  cares  in  the  peculiar 
atmosphere  of  that  book — its  grand  outlook  over  the  vast  field  of  redemp- 
tion. The  ancient  patriarchs  appeared  to  live  and  move  and  speak  and 
think,  before  me,  like  men  of  today.  Nothing  that  I  ever  read  has  so  im- 
pressed me ;  I  prize  that  book  exceedingly,  and  I  do  pray  for  you,  that 
God  may  spare  your  life  and  strength,  and  supply  the  needed  means,  that 
you  may  give  those  volumes  as  a  priceless  possession  to  the  Spanish- 
speaking  nations.  The  work  is  to  my  mind  worth  any  dozen  commentaries 
that  I  know.  I  do  feel  that  it  is  'far  and  away'  beyond  the  ordinary 
type  that  I  have  known." 

Mrs.  John  G.  Hall  (Presbyterian),  Cardenas,  Cuba:  "Mr.  Pratt's 
Notes  on  Genesis  are  so  delightful  to  read,  I  trust  that  the  Lord  will  give 
him  strength  and  health  to  complete  his  grand  work." 

Rev.  E.  N.  Granados  (Presbyterian),  San  Juan  Bautista,  Mexico:  "I 
have  read  the  volume  through  and  through,  and  what  shall  I  say?  That 
it  is  precious,  magnificent,  most  useful !" 

The  Rev.  W.  S.  Scott   (Presbyterian),  San  Marcos,  Texas:    "The  read-' 
ing  is  extremely  interesting,  and  delights  the  reader  as  if  it  were  a  novel. 
All  our   (Mexican)   brethren  are  delighted  with  the  Commentary." 

Rev.  Neill  E.  Pressly  (Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian),  Tamplco, 
Mexico:  "I  am  greatly  pleased  with  the  work.  I  gave  a  copy  to  my 
native  assistant,  and  he  is  jubilant.  lie  is  not  going  to  let  go  of  it, 
till  he  has  read  it  from  end  to  end.  What  a  great  treasure  students 
of  the  Bible  in  Spanish  would  possess,  if  they  had  the  whole  Bible  com- 
mented on  with  so  great  clearness !" 

Rev.  A.  B.  Rudd  (Baptist),  Ponce,  Porto  Rico:  "It  is  just  what  we  need 
among  the  peoples  who  speak  the  Spanish  tongue." 

Rev.  W.  A.  Walls  (Society  of  Friends),  Mexico  City:  "In  loving  rev- 
erence for  the  Word,  in  clear  exposition  of  what  God  does  say,  and  in  the 
omission  of  what,  in  men's  opinion,  he  ought  to  have  said,  the  Studies 
are  incomparable :  at  least  my  reading  has  furnished  me  nothing  egual 
to  it." 

Pastor  S.  J.  McMurry  (Presbyterian),  Laredo,  Texas:  "It  is  a  com- 
mentary that  is  going  to  serve  the  Church  in  its  missionary  work  for 
hundreds  of  years  to  come.' 

Rev.  William  Wallace  (Presbyterian),  Saltillo,  Mexico:  "I  consider 
your  commentary  as  nearly  ideal  as  the  conditions  to  which  you  address 
yourself  make  it  possible  to  reach." 

Rev.  Dr.  H.  C.  Thomson  (Presbyterian),  Albuquerque,  N.  M.  :  "The 
work  is  of  inestimable  value.  Its  great  superiority  is  seen  on  every  page. 
The  comments  are  most  opportune,  extremely  clear  and  vigorous,  and 
though  readily  understood,  they  are  notably  comprehensive,  considering 
the  brevity  of  the  work.  I  trust  in  the  Lord  that  he  will  not  permit  the 
enterprise  to  fail  for  lack  of  funds." 


The  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Milton  Greene,  Superintendent  of  the  missions  of  the 
Northern  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Island  of  Cuba,  writes  thus  of  the 
Spanish  Exodus:  "J  wish  to  express,  my  dear  Dr.  Pratt,  the  gratitude  I 
feel  for  the  great  service  you  have  rendered  to  the  Master's  cause  in  the 
preparation  of  your  Commentary  on  Exodus.  .  .  .  It  is  fine,  full  of 
practical  instruction  and  deeply  spiritual.  There  is  nothing  in  Spanish  like 
it ;  and  I  only  hope  that  God  will  spare  your  life  to  show  us  how  much 
of  the  very  heart  of  the  Gospel  there  is  in  Leviticus." 


Date  Due 


BS1235.P914 

Studies  on  the  Book  of  Genesis 

Princeton  Theological  S 


nary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00042  6033 


